Burning Rubber
by Gin Kitsune Kijo Ansatsusha
Summary: As a street racer with no permanent home, Ace happens to stumble across a battered old Peterbilt in the desert. Putting her mechanic skills to good use, she fixes it up. But is there more to this Peterbilt than meets the eye.
1. Chapter 1

Burning Rubber

Transformers Fanfic (MxOFCxM)

A/N: Hey guys! No, I'm not dead even though I haven't been active for a while. Anyways, this will have mention of Mech and Mech pairing while I don't go into actual detail about their relationship if it's not your cup of tea, don't drink it. I'll drink it for you. My deepest apologies for having been inactive for so long. Lots of crap happened an all. Four failed adoptions and I got fired from my job. Life basically decided to throw me for a tail spin. But, I'm in an okay place now so onward! To the story! Enough with the blah blah crap. I will do my best to keep up with regular updates on this one as it is completely FINISHED!

The roar of engines echoed down the dark streets and one could practically taste the vicious excitement in the air. Especially seeing as it was an illegal drag racing competition and one that Ace had been coming to for the past four years.

No one had beaten her yet, for there were always a maybe, but looking at the competition, it would definitely not be today. Running her hands across the smooth steering wheel, Ace unconsciously crooned to her car, even if she knew it wasn't one of those nifty ass Transformers.

This car was still her baby and it was also her money maker and home, seeing as she had been homeless for the past two years, living out of her car.

Due to this, Ace traveled a lot and her car always drew appreciative glances, even from the law enforcement when they had a chance to admire it during the daylight.

She kept her tags blacked out when she raced so that they couldn't technically prove that it was her vehicle doing the racing and the deep purple of the car made it difficult to determine the actual color.

The light could hit it and it would look black, pass through a dim shadow and it could be dark blue or dark purple. Ace had worked damn hard on her car, every single piece of the car had been put together by her and slowly modified over the years.

Granted, Ace probably could have found a damn good paying job and gotten a house and settled into it but nothing beat the sound of her engine's roar.

The scream of tires on the pavement, the smell of burning rubber, and the rush of pure pleasure she got when she kicked her car into high gear.

No, she didn't think she would ever get a good paying job or even a house but there were plenty of places that she could shower at and she basically lived off fast food from her winnings.

Not that one could tell, with all the work and heavy lifting she did on her car she was quite toned for a twenty year old.

Keeping her eyes on the referee only, she ignored the taunts and cat calls, rolling up her window to reduce the drag.

These guys were new, a lot of them teenagers with rich parents but fuck, as long as the cops didn't scatter them early, she'd be able to get her winnings.

As the referee yelled for them to go, Ace's smile was manic as she stomped on the accelerator, her car gunning forwards with a ground shaking roar as she shot forwards.

Getting a feel of the road wasn't difficult, she would have to avoid a couple potholes but still, she'd raced on worse and she made sure not to lose her lead.

Nothing pissed her off more than a paid off referee, which was why she had taken to more aggressive means to stay so far ahead that no one could claim otherwise.

Not that she actively tried to harm the other drivers, she just made sure that there was no chance in hell that these little pansy ass boys would outgun her baby.

Within minutes, the race was over, seeing as Ace had crossed the finish line two minutes before everyone else and due to this, she merely took her winnings and drove off. She wasn't going to listen to people fawn over her car or try and offer her money for it, she didn't like anyone touching her car either.

So she merely avoided it, driving out further into the desert to count over her cash and keep a rather safe distance from civilization.

Spotting a boulder, Ace pulled up along side it, tucking her car into the place where it would provide the most shade when the sun came up before she began to count her winnings.

They hadn't skimped which was a shock but it would pay for her fuel costs, her food costs, and a new part that she had been wanting for her car for the past month.

It would also allow her to upgrade her mechanic kit that lay in the trunk of her car, granted the one she had now was far more professional than one could find even at a dealership. However, there were always better tools and better pieces to keep her car in top shape.

After relieving herself, Ace made sure to bury it with quite a bit of sand before she walked over to her car and stretched across the hood of it. Warmth from the engine coiled up around Ace, allowing her to stay quite comfortable even in the cool desert air as she looked up at the star-filled sky.

A sheen of metal caught her attention as the moon hit its zenith, as it always took her a while to come down from a race.

Curious, Ace sat up on the hood, trying to determine what it was by sight alone before sliding from the hood, the smooth metal feeling like a caress to her side before climbing in and turning on the lights.

A dusty and damaged Peterbilt shone in the light of her high beams before turning on her car and driving carefully in front of it.

Looking over the Peterbilt, she figured it would need a bit of work but otherwise, it was a damn beauty! Why anyone would leave such a vehicle out in the desert was beyond her seeing as she was twenty miles in.

Dread skittered up Ace's spine as the thought of the driver being dead inside crossed her mind but taking a breath she climbed onto the steps, knocking on the cab door.

"Hello? Anyone in there? Are you okay?"

Getting no answer after waiting for a few minutes, Ace gently tugged on the door that opened easily at her touch before she cautiously peeked inside, having grabbed her flashlight.

Sighing in relief at the empty cab, Ace looked over the near brand new interior, running her hand over the leather seat with an appreciative whistle.

"Damn, someone loved you big guy. Why'd they leave you out here in the desert?"

Trying to start the engine got a rumbled sputter but the electronics came on to reveal that this was one sophisticated big rig. It had to have cost someone hundreds of thousands of dollars and that insane bastard had left it out in the middle of the fucking desert.

A smile curved Ace's lips as she looked around the cab of the truck, her fingers gently tracing the roof and the inside of the cab,

"Oh well. Finders keepers I guess. I'll see if I can't get you fixed up in the morning big guy. Especially seeing as that tank of yours is showing full. Sweet dreams."

Patting the steering wheel carefully, Ace shut the big rig down completely, watching the electronics go dark before she gently closed the door and slid into her car, turning off the lights and rolling down the windows before she turned off her car.

Climbing into the back seat, Ace lay atop her sleeping bag, it was cool but it wasn't cold at least not yet and with the thoughts of how to repair the beautiful big rig in front of her dancing in her head, Ace slid into sleep.

Waking at dawn was an easy enough task especially seeing as the sun was so fucking bright, however she immediately got to work, blasting sand out of the workings of the big rig with a vacuum.

Whistling at the sight of that damn fine engine, Ace got to work, checking over for any damage, finding a bit deeper into the hood, she was actually able to get to work.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: It has come to my attention, that seriously, no matter how I try and edit my chapters on here, they always look like a two year old has written them. My deepest apologies on that note. I definitely should have double checked the first chapter before I went ahead and just sent it out. Many thanks to the few who have already decided to follow and favorite this and for RewindandDomey4ever as well as a Guest who left my first reviews. The chapters are also going to be a little odd because I just wrote the story and then went through afterwards and cut it into chapters. So, R&R if you please.

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Chapter Two:

"Speaking"

{Internal comm link}

Optimus wearily came online to find his hood propped open and a human female was leaning halfway inside. Admittedly he was quite startled but made sure to check any reaction he might have had as he didn't want to injure the female as she was obviously working on repairing him. However, exhaustion won out again and he slipped back into recharge feeling small fingers flutter gently against his engine and damaged parts.

If he had not been concerned about scaring her he would have rumbled his engines in content as he slipped fully into recharge.

By mid-day, Ace had to call it quits, it was just too fucking hot, even if she had rigged nearly six large tarps together and placed them over both the big rig and her car on metal legs. Pulling her water gallon jugs out of her car, Ace made sure to drink the hot water, it didn't matter if it was hot or not as she needed to stay hydrated.

When it cooled off a bit she would go take a shower at one of the pools and come back to finish her work, she was pretty sure all she needed was to jump the rig anyways. With the oomph her own car carried, she knew it would be enough and she was really looking forwards to driving the big rig.

Curiosity had had her checking the trailer to find it surprisingly empty, yet really not that surprising. She could only hope that the previous owner never saw it and called her a thief.

With her own car being just a little too hot, Ace had simply lay down on the floor of the big rig between the driver and passenger seat as this rig didn't have a sleeper cab.

Not that she was complaining, she could still get a cooler than scalding breeze from the open windows, helping to dry her sweat as she rested, simply too hot and sticky to try and move other than to guzzle her water down.

By the time the evening rolled around, Ace was able to get up and head back into the small town, sneaking into the closed pool for a cooling shower and a quick clothes wash as she simply washed them with regular body soap before rinsing them out well and wringing them out.

Putting them in the waterproof bag kept them from leaking everywhere as she pulled on her clean clothes, now being mostly dry before pulling her long, damp hair into a bun.

Tossing the bag into her car, Ace stopped just long enough to relieve herself and get something to eat before heading back out into the desert. Hanging the damp clothes on a small line that she had made, Ace figured that they would dry quite quickly as it was still quite warm but not overly hot.

Grabbing her tool kit, Ace began to work on the last, final touches on the engine as her clothes dried. Checking over the clothes after washing her hands a bit, Ace folded them up and placed them in a different bag before grabbing her jumper cables. Once the cables were attached, Ace made sure to turn the big rig on at least before hopping into her car and sliding the gear into neutral before revving the engine.

The burst of electricity sent energy careening through Optimus's frame causing him to online with a yelp, his frame automatically shifting into his bipedal, mech mode.

"Holy shit!"

Staring up at an actual, real life, hell be damned, Transformer, Ace was quick to check for its sigil, if it was a Decepticon she would have to take it out with the cannon type gun she had in the trunk of her car. If it was a friendly, maybe she could escort it back to wherever it needed to be, though it wouldn't need to know about the gun she had salvaged.

In fact, most of her parts in her car were actually pieces of salvaged Transformers, but yeah, she wasn't saying shit.

Spotting the red Autobot sigil on the mech, for it was definitely a male, Ace breathed a sigh of relief, shutting off her car to gather up the jumper cables and toss them in the back seat. Climbing up onto the hood of her car, Ace looked up at the mech,

"You alright?"

"I am well. I am most grateful for your assistance in repairing me."

"Not a problem. I'm Ace by the way."

"I am Optimus Prime."

"Wow! As in leader of the freaking Autobots?! That's so cool!"

Smiling softly at the excitement Ace showed, Optimus kneeled in front of her before she surprisingly jumped onto his knee joint with more grace than he had ever seen a human possess. However he made sure to hold still as she began to look him over, her hands gentle and fluttering like the lightest of sensor scans.

"How are you holding up? I'm not sure if I repaired you right but hey, I didn't know you were a Transformer. I thought you were some big beautiful big rig that some dumb ass had left out in the desert."

Blinking at the rumbling chuckle, Ace had to admit, Optimus's voice made her body tingle but that could be thought over some other time as she looked up at his face so close now to hers.

"You have done very well."

"Thanks! I work on my car all the time so I'm pretty familiar with a lot of parts. See, that car right there is my baby. I put a lot of work into her."

Scanning over the car, Optimus would admit, it was a thing of beauty, even if it did house Cybertronian parts and apparently a plasma pistol in the trunk of the car.

"It is a very fine car."

"Thank you, uh sir. It would be sir right? I mean you are the leader of the Autobots."

"You may call me Optimus."  
"Awesome. I'm just Ace. No Miss in front of it or nothing."

Optimus nodded before wincing slightly as static blasted over his internal comms, having been getting ready to call the Autobot base and inform them he was still online.

"Hey, you okay?"

"My comms seem to be damaged."

"Let me have a look see."

Hopping down to the ground, Ace grabbed her tool kit before climbing back up Optimus's leg like she was a squirrel and he was a tree, but hey, he didn't seem to mind.

Climbing up onto Optimus's shoulder, Ace began to check over the antennae on the sides of his head, spotting the damage almost immediately.

"Ah ha! Hang on, I'll have you patched up in a jiffy."

Accessing the world wide web, Optimus was able to figure out what a jiffy was and rumbled his assent rather than nodding as once more, those small fingers danced across his frame.

"Alright, try that."

Tapping into his internal comms again, Optimus was pleased to find there was no blast of static and slowly nodded as Ace sat on his shoulder, holding onto her very large bag.

{ _Optimus Prime to Base. Come in base._ }

{ _Optimus?! Damn we've missed you, big guy! We thought you were dead or something._ }

{ _I am well. I will be needing an escort to base shortly and I will be bringing a guest._ }

{ _I'll make sure and get them clearance. Damn it's good to hear from you again, big guy._ }

{ _It is good to hear from you as well, Lennox. Optimus out_.}

It never failed to warm Optimus's spark at how genuinely happy the humans of NEST always seem to be around him as he disengaged the comm system. However, now it seemed he would have the task of convincing Ace to come with him, with her skills in repair, Ratchet might be able to use her assistance in the med bay.

"Ace, as I am greatly indebted to you, would you be willing to join me at the NEST facility?"

"Sure."

"Will you need to contact your parents?"

"Nah. It's just me big guy. Been alone for a while now. Don't even have a home. I live out of my car. Not saying that I couldn't have gotten a home if I had wanted one, I just never got around to it. Can I bring my car with me?"

"Of course. If it is your home, you should never have to part from it."

Shuttering his optics in a blink, Optimus was surprised to feel a gentle line of warmth pressing against the side of his face before he carefully lifted his servo and placed it against Ace's body, having realized that she had hugged him.

"Thanks Optimus."

"It is my pleasure."

They only had to wait an hour before somehow a damn cargo plane managed to make a landing, throwing sand everywhere and causing Optimus to shift his frame to protect Ace from it. Shifting slightly, Optimus helped Ace to slip into her car before he stood and began to walk towards the plane, shifting into his alt mode with Ace following behind him in her car.

Epps whistled at the sleek car that drove up behind Big Buddha as he sometimes called Optimus, as the hatch closed,

"Now this is a beauty."

"Thanks, she's mine."

Blinking at the sound of a woman's voice, Epps looked over to see a young woman sitting on the window area of the door with her arms resting on the roof.

"Sorry about that. I thought your car was a Transformer."

"Nope. She's all mine. I built her from the ground up."

"Damn! Kid's got skills!"

"The name's Ace."

"Epps."

Approving of the rather strong handshake the young woman gave him, Epps held out a badge of sorts, watching as she took it curiously,

"Keep that on your shirt at all times. It gives you access to the NEST base and admittedly some of these guys are a bit jumpy."

"You mean NEST operatives?"

"Well some of them are a little jumpy too but you only have to worry about a fist being thrown at you. I'm mainly talking about Big Buddha's Spec Ops. They're a bit paranoid and a bit jumpy but damn are they good at their jobs."

Optimus merely sat listening to Epps and Ace talk, their voices creating a soothing dual tone as long as he didn't focus too much on the words being actually said. It was amusing really as humans never really thought of themselves as musical beings, granted their range of music that they could make was amazing.

But just sitting and listening to their regular voices had a musical cadence as well as long as one knew how to listen.

After they had landed and Ace had been cleared, she had been able to drive her car literally into her new quarters that was carefully ventilated for said purpose before sitting on Optimus's hand, though he called it a servo.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Shout out to StormMoonStarLight, redcollector, blademaster77, Crystal364, mockingjayssoul, SirEmpire, CaptainSwan197, and DarkPugLord23 for the faves and follows of the story. I repeat, I know well enough that the editing on this is crap and despite my best, continuous efforts, the fragging thing just won't fix. So again, you have my apologies. R&R if you've got the time. I love reviews. ~Gin

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Chapter 3:

"Speaking"

Ratchet was damn near ready to blow a gasket at the sight of Optimus but before he could, a female's voice sounded,

"Wow! You're Ratchet! Holy crap! You're like the best mechanic I've ever seen! You're so cool!"

Such warm and genuine praise from the small human female, had Ratchet's processors stuttering to a shocked stop before he felt his face heat in what the humans would call a blush, granted it didn't show on his face.

"Yeah, yeah enough of that. Optimus you park your aft on that berth this instant!"

"Yes Ratchet."

Optimus couldn't quite keep the smile off of his face at Ratchet's flustered expression so he made sure to keep his battle mask closed, he had no desire for a dent to be smashed into his helm.

Settling back on the berth, Optimus made sure that Ace was comfortably on his chassis as she looked up at Ratchet with a smile,

"I did my best to repair him Ratchet but I know I'm nowhere near as good as you are but if you want I can walk you through with what I did."

Clearing his vocalizer a couple times, Ratchet nodded, really, he had never been so genuinely complimented before and especially not with such excitement.

However, his spark warmed at the praise for being a medic was a thankless job, not that he minded as he knew he was a bit rough around the edges but to hear it was still quite pleasing.

At that, the smaller human female launched into exactly what she had repaired and how she had repaired it, with such detail that even Ratchet couldn't help but shutter his optics in surprise.

He would admit then, only to himself that the human knew her way around a system, whether they were Cybertronian or not.

A quick scan to Optimus's frame showed that he was indeed repaired and impeccably so, so much so that apparently Ratchet's vocalizer decided to get a processor of its own and speak without permission,

"How would you like to be my assistant?"

"Really?! I'd love to!"

Rather than curse his runaway vocalizer, Ratchet merely nodded, accepting her for his apprentice and there were a lot of things he would have to teach her,

"I'm Ace by the way. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier and just kind of jumped at you."

"That's fine. Optimus, get out of here. Ace repaired you enough that I don't have to worry about them myself."

Ace's face lit like a beacon at the roundabout praise causing Optimus to chuckle softly as Ratchet rubbed the back of his neck cables.

Carefully releasing Ace onto the berth, Optimus obediently headed out of the med bay, he would be informing the others in the meeting he knew that would be planned, of Ratchet's new human assistant.

It didn't take long for Ratchet to realize that Ace had an absolutely voracious appetite for knowledge and would tear through anything he gave her at speeds that only a Cybertronian could match.

Granted he had yet to allow her to practice what she had learned but he knew that once she did, he was going to have a damn good assistant by the end of it.

Bumblebee waved and chirped at Ace, having spotted her sitting over on Ratchet's desk further off to the side, reading a data pad like always.

She may have only been there for a couple weeks but she had already endeared herself to many an Autobot.

Hearing Bumblebee's usual chirp of greeting, Ace's face lit up as she turned towards him, waving as well,

"Hey Bee!"

Setting her data pad as they called it, down, Ace stood, holding her arms up to Bumblebee who easily dropped to his knee joints, his digits curling over the desk slightly as he lowered his helm into her arms.

Surprisingly enough, Ace demanded hugs from every one and if the mech had tried to refuse in the beginning, Ratchet smashed them with his wrench of doom.

Due to this, the others had been quick to accept Ace's odd demand, some, like Bumblebee had even begun to eagerly look forwards to it and would hurry across the med bay to give Ace her hug before hurrying back to Ratchet's side.

"How've you been Bee? It's been a while since I've seen you."

Bumblebee chirped as he stood, holding out his servo and shaking it slightly from side to side,

"So-so huh?"

Another chirp caught Ace's attention before she noted Bumblebee looking at her and smirked up at him,

"I'm good. There's so much to learn and I am learning a lot more than I ever thought I would. Granted I think I might call it an early day and go out for a drive."

Bumblebee was definitely excited about that, he had heard of Ace's car that she had built but as of yet they hadn't managed to see her drive it.

Even though Ace couldn't understand Cybertronian, she strangely enough didn't have a single problem deciphering Bumblebee's chirps, trills, whistles, and beeps.

"You want me to give you a call before I go driving?"

At Bumblebee's chirp, Ace nodded up at him with a smile,

"Sure, why not."

"Bumblebee, good to see you on time."

Flinching slightly at Ratchet's no nonsense tone, Bumblebee immediately moved over to the berth and settled back on it, noting Ratchet carefully scooping Ace up into his servo.

"Alright Ace. You'll be working on Bumblebee's vocalizer today."

"What?"

Ace was carefully set on Bumblebee's chassis as she looked up at Ratchet,

"You will work on his vocalizer today. You have exceeded my expectations in your learning. So now you will begin working on actual patients."

"Uh right! Sure. Um can I go get my tool kit?"

"Of course."

Ratchet set Ace back down on the floor before she booked it out of the med bay, heading to her quarters to get her tool kit from the back seat of her car.

Spotting Ace's awkward jog with a very large bag, Jazz scooped her up into his servos before she smiled up at him,

"Hey Jazz!"

"Hey there, sweet spark. Where ya headin'?"

"To the med bay. I'm gonna work on Bee's vocalizer today."

"Good job!"

Smiling, Jazz lowered his face to where Ace could give her usual hug because if there was one thing Jazz would admit he liked, it was hugs.

Once released, Jazz escorted Ace to the med bay, setting her on the berth before quickly hightailing it back out before Ratchet could start throwing things at him,

"Good luck, sweet spark!"

"Thanks Jazz!"

Once the door closed, Ace got to work as she practically straddled Bee's neck cables, focusing only on the task at hand.

Ace's total focus was definitely admirable as Ratchet continued to watch her work, her fingers dancing much easier through the wires than his own fingers could and Bumblebee's features remained relaxed so she wasn't hurting him thankfully.

Eventually the thirty minute session was up and Ratchet gently pet Ace's back with a finger, bringing her out of her focus as she looked up at him, blinking rapidly for a moment.

"You did well Ace, that's enough for today Bumblebee, same time next week."

Feeling Ace slowly move off of his neck cables to stand beside his helm, Bumblebee finally nodded slowly, getting used to how his vocalizer felt once more now that more of it had been repaired and held a thumbs up as humans called it.

Ace smiled at Bee before she began to place her tools back in her bag,

"I'll see you for that drive in a little bit Bee."

Chirping, Bee waved before walking out of the room causing Ace to smile once more as she finished putting her tools away.

At least until Ratchet grew curious about them and she began to take them out one by one, some of the Ratchet recognized and were able to name but others, he had no idea what the hell they were made for so Ace explained those to him.

Needless to say, Ratchet would definitely be adding those to the Wheeljack make these for me list, even some of her customized ones he would be asking Wheeljack to make for him.

Ratchet wasn't well known for going easy on assistants and despite how absolutely fantastic Ace did when tested, he had to remind himself that she was human and she could burn out if he wasn't careful.

Which was why he went ahead and gave her the rest of the day off, causing her to whoop and waddle jog out of the room carrying her bag of tools.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here's another chapter for everybody. R&R, if you please. ~Gin

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Chapter 4:

"Speaking"

" _Bumblebee Radio"_

Finally making it to her room, Ace tossed her tool bag onto her bed before sliding into her car and slowly driving it out onto the tarmac before Bee rumbled up beside her.

"What do you think, Bee?"

" _Sweet ride!_ "

Chuckling at the voice from the radio, Ace began to drive forwards,

"What about a race?"

" _Yes!_ "

"Around the base once and whoever makes it back here first wins. If you win you get a full frame massage. I win and you start teaching me how to scout."

Bumblebee's engines revved in eagerness before Ace got one of the soldiers to act as referee and as soon as they yelled go, the shriek of tires and the roar of engines was all that was heard.

Ace followed close behind Bumblebee but not too far behind, getting a feel for his speed and maneuverability.

Half a lap went by before Ace whooped and stomped on the accelerator, shifting gears in perfect time as her engine roared shooting her forwards.

Honestly, Bumblebee had never gone up against such a good driver with such a good machine in their control, watching as Ace drifted around the corner, barely bothering to slow down.

It was definitely a treat to see how well Ace drove as a human as she overtook him, her normal human car out gunning him.

Having heard the roar of the engines and the squeal of the tires, quite a crowd had gathered to see Bumblebee left in the dust as Ace crossed the designated finish line.

Cheers and whoops sounded causing Ace to laugh as she slowed to a stop, turning off the car before the NEST soldiers practically tackled her in a hug and various cheers sounded. Ace was even scooped up by some of the Autobots and hugged carefully before being set back on her feet.

Of course now the lambo twins wanted to race her which she agreed to, however she would have to wait until Ratchet gave her another free day seeing as her car had been sitting for two weeks and then had been pushed into a race.

She'd have to give it a bit of a tune up and probably start driving it around the base instead of walking to make sure it stayed in top condition.

Of course bots and people had talked when she had managed to outrace Bumblebee who was known to be quite fast for a scout.

Everyone was talking when she had managed to outstrip the twins in a completely fair setting and true to their word, Bumblebee began to teach her how to scout and the Twins explained jet judo to her.

In all honestly, Ace thrived under the bots tutelage, learning everything that she could or were willing to teach her.

When the bots went to battle, Ace went with them, driving her car across the battlefield to provide aid to their bots as she could move much faster than Ratchet, she could get them at least stabilized until he got there.

Scanning over his exhausted, trembling assistant, Ratchet had her wash her arms off with the water she always carried in the trunk as they had energon on them.

Not enough to do damage but her skin would be sensitive for a couple weeks if not just a week afterwards.

For her first time on an actual battlefield, Ace had done very well, she hadn't lost her head or panicked once, not even when one of the Cons had given chase after her.

Using the skills that she had honed over the years, Ace had outmaneuvered them and had darted back into the protection of the Autobots who had closed ranks around her.

Scooping Ace up into his servo after she had washed the energon from her arms, Ratchet gently revved his engine as she lay pressed against his chassis, eventually pushing her into sleep as Bumblebee very carefully grabbed Ace's car and carried it back to base.

Everyone had been warned that if they had damaged her car she would cannibalize them for parts and that had definitely caused everyone to make sure to keep an optic out for her and her ride.

Jolting awake with a gasp, Ace looked around wildly, finding herself back in her quarters and her car set carefully were she usually parked it.

Rubbing burning eyes, Ace got up, stretching comfortably as her body popped and crackled as she walked into the wash racks as the Bots called it.

Showering quickly, Ace turned off the hot water, drying off with the scratchy towel before pulling her pajamas on but rather than lay back down and go to sleep, Ace began to roam the halls.

The smooth floor was cool, almost cold under her bare feet but it didn't bother her all that much as she continued to walk the halls until she was able to head outside.

Hearing the soft rumble of an engine, Ace turned, spotting Optimus sitting, one leg propped up slightly on a boulder as his arm rested over his knee joint as he looked up at the sky.

"Optimus, may I join you?"

Torn out of his thoughts, Optimus looked over to find Ace standing near his pede, dressed in her pajamas as she called them though he was quick to note that she was barefoot.

"Of course."

Setting his servo down beside Ace, he waited until she had climbed into it before lifting her up as he rested his arm once more on his knee joint, though this time his servo faced up instead of draped down.

"Are you alright, Optimus?"

"I am, thank you for asking."

Smiling, Ace hooked her arm over Optimus's thumb, pressing her body against the side of it to get some extra warmth as it was quite chilly.

Noting this, Optimus settled back on the ground, his arm coming up to rest behind his helm as he settled Ace on his chassis over his spark chamber where it would be the warmest, as well as cycling warm air through his frame.

Resting on her back on Optimus's chassis, Ace folded her arms behind her head as his servo rested slightly over her to help keep her warm.

"Hey! It's my favorite constellation."

Curious, Optimus began to look through the sky, many constellations popping up and many different names for each one,

"May I ask which one?"

"One of the easiest to find. Orion. See his belt?"

Looking up, Optimus did indeed see the constellation Ace spoke of,

"Alnilam, Mintaka, and Alnitak are the three stars that make up Orion's belt. Betelgeuse is the right shoulder, Bellatrix is the left shoulder. Hatsya is the tip of the sword that hangs off the belt. Meissa forms Orion's head, Saiph serves as Orion's right knee whereas Rigel forms the hunter's left knee."

Optimus listened with interest as Ace named the stars that made up the Orion constellation as it definitely wasn't common knowledge and most humans only knew the name of the constellations, not the names of the stars that made them up. It also greatly amused him that her favorite constellation was his former designation.

"I can always find Orion in the sky. In the summer the stars are close together but in the winter they space out quite a bit. It's really cool to study."

Giving a different study to talk about, Optimus began to ask questions about their stars and was pleased to find that Ace had the answers for them but after a couple hours she had lapsed into sleep, resting warm and comfortable on Optimus's chassis.

When Optimus got up he was very careful not to jostle Ace as best he could, cradling her in his servo against his chassis.

Figuring that Ace wouldn't mind, Optimus headed to his own quarters, settling on the berth and pulling the thermablanket up slightly after making sure she would not fall from his chassis.

Slipping into recharge was easier than it had been and Optimus did so gladly, his frame relaxing beneath Ace as she rested curled up on her side, over his spark chamber.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

"Speaking"

* * *

Waking in an unfamiliar place was definitely uncomfortable but she had slowly learned how everyone's sparks sounded as she had been present for their physicals and for the most part could guess them with almost one hundred percent accuracy.

Which would mean that she was currently resting atop Optimus's chassis, though they were no longer outside.

Warmth gently radiated from Optimus's chassis along with the gentle thrum of his spark, sending Ace into a bit of a daze as she continued to rest on her side.

Seeing as it was still dark outside, Ace figured she hadn't slept for too long and due to this, she allowed herself to relax once more, her mind slipping from a dazed awareness into sleep.

A soft chirping called Optimus from recharge as he activated his optics, turning off his internal alarm, looking down almost immediately to see Ace still resting curled up on her side.

But as if hearing his systems boot online, Ace awoke as well, rubbing at her gritty eyes and slowly sat up, stretching and cracking her body to relieve some of the aches that had built up as she had slept.

Pushing the thermablanket off with his pedes, Optimus sat up, cradling a still waking Ace in his servo before he began to walk from his quarters, dropping Ace off at hers so that she could go through her morning routine as he headed to the mess hall.

Changing into her regular clothes, Ace made sure to clip on her badge before running a brush through her hair and pulling it up into a bun, heading to the mess hall herself.

Various greetings sounded which caused Ace to call back in greetings as she got her strong cup of freshly brewed hot coffee and her breakfast on a tray.

Feeling a gentle weight against his ankle joint, Jazz looked down to see a tired looking Ace leaning against him and carefully lifted her up onto the table as more often than not, she stayed with the Spec Op mechs in the mornings.

"Mornin' sis."

"Good morning Jazz."

They definitely got weird looks from anyone coming into base without knowing that Jazz had started calling Ace, Sis, after she had helped repair his aft when he was halfway between Autobot and Decepticon territory. She had even gone so far as to help to escort him back, so him claiming her as family wasn't to far of a stretch, not many bots would do that and she was human.

"Got some new recruits coming in today."

"Oh yeah? Cool. Human or Bot?"

"Human. Word is they're really highly qualified."

At that, Ace snorted with a smirk as she looked up at Jazz who took a sip of his energon cube,

"As if anyone is ever qualified enough compared to you Spec Ops."

Jazz's smile was warm as he looked down at Ace,

"Too true sis, too true."

Finishing her breakfast, Ace figured she could go to the meeting that would be voluntary as she hadn't gone to one in quite some time as she was usually kept extremely busy by Ratchet, Bumblebee, or Jazz as she was learning from all three of them.

Needless to say, the meeting was absolutely horrible as one of the higher up had decided to be an asshole and single her out to everyone just because she wasn't military and she was a woman. Claiming her to be a useless waste of space and all she was good for was pulling pranks with the Autobots and honestly, it fucking hurt to be called a useless waste of space.

However she had gritted her teeth and offered no complaint or defense as the others began to whisper about her. She wasn't going to let them see that they had actually rattled her quite a bit but as soon as the meeting was over she had quietly walked out of the room.

In the beginning, Ace had asked if she could either climb up on a bot or sit on them, however now it was almost expected as were her hugs, she didn't even need to ask anymore with any of them really.

Which was why when she climbed up into Jazz's lap he didn't immediately react violently despite being Leader of the Spec Ops.

However when his sensitive audios caught her soft hiccup and sniffle, she was given his immediate attention.

"Sis?"

Carefully lifting Ace up onto the table in front of him, Jazz's claw gently slid under her chin, tipping her head back as no human could even begin to resist a Transformer.

Jazz's optics went wide behind his visor seeing the tears that streamed down Ace's face,

"Oh! Oh sweet spark, wha's the matter? Tell yer best brother Jazz."

Letting out a soft whine in the back of her throat, Ace merely wrapped her arms tight around Jazz's thumb as he curled his servo around her slightly.

Normally, Ace would have felt like a bitch for even whining about what someone had said but something that had always been a sore spot for her was being called useless.

So through sniffles and soft hiccups she told Jazz what one of the men had said and a pissed off Jazz was never good for anyone's health.

However, he gently soothed Ace until the tears finally stopped and she was able to scrub at her face before heading to Ratchet's office for her rounds for the day, having become a full time medic in there to help assist him.

It didn't take long for Ratchet to figure out why she had been upset, or why there was a sudden influx of injured recruits, granted none of it was serious.

Ratchet had pitched a fit once he had found out the lies that one of the higher ups in the human ranks had spread about Ace, putting every injured recruit in their place as he had ranted about how much Ace had helped them and how hard she worked.

Optimus had had to keep Jazz from permanently injuring the man despite the rumors and had reluctantly sent Jazz to the brig for a week.

Ace had been notably upset and had gone to the brig every single day to visit Jazz and keep him company, going so far as to rest in the cell with him, leaving only to relieve herself, eat, bathe, and work.

To Jazz it was worth it seeing as the slime covered rust bucket, aft-helmed pit spawn of a human had resigned his position after pissing his pants when Jazz had come after him for hurting his sister's feelings.

Anyone who had tried to point out that Ace wasn't really his sister and was a human, always wound up injured from a training accident not long after it was mentioned.

"Hey Jazz!"

Hearing Ace's voice snapped him out of his rather vicious thought cycle and he smiled warmly over at her as she stood in front of the now open cell door.

"Wha's dis now? Ah ain't supposed tah be getting out for ah couple more days yet."

"You get out early for good behavior."

Jazz laughed before walking out of the brig, scooping Ace up into his servo before walking down the halls humming softly.

Climbing easily up onto Jazz's shoulder, Ace hugged the side of his head as she usually did, causing him to pause and smile, his fingers gently pressing against her back.

Ace pressed a warm kiss to Jazz's cheek causing him to flush slightly before she slid down his arm and jumped off of his hand quite easily, landing on her feet.

"See ya later Jazz!"  
"See ya sweet spark!"

Jogging into the med bay, Ace didn't protest as Ratchet scooped her up before setting her up on the berth,

"Hey Optimus."

"Good morning, Ace."

Looking over at Ratchet, Ace grabbed her own personal data pad,

"Is it time for his physical, Ratchet?"

"More like necessary maintenance."

"Right."

Like Ratchet, Ace was very thorough in checking over Optimus's frame, truly, he could hide nothing from the pair and Ace was very good at wire work.

Blinking at the hitch in Optimus's spark pulse, Ace cocked her head to the side before she reached back, gently patting his chassis causing a couple more sputters causing her to lift her head.

"You okay?"

"I am fine. Thank you for the concern."

Looking up at Optimus once more, Ace hummed softly before sliding the goggles back over her eyes that allowed her to see things more closely and got back to work.

Finishing Optimus's maintenance, Ace made sure to file what had been done in the medical records before she suddenly heard her car alarm go off.

"What the shit?!"

Jumping off the berth, Ace grunted at the hard landing, grabbing her largest wrench as she bolted down the halls.

The smaller twins were in a panic, they had not expected such a loud alarm to go off when they had gently nudged Ace's car and were trying their damndest to quiet it before Ace heard it.

"Twins!"

Mudflap and Skids shrieked at Ace's roar before she smashed her wrench hard into their helms, downing them and causing them to yelp as they clutched their helms and scrambled back.

Pressing the alarm button on her key ring, the car chirped and went quiet as Ace stood on the hood, glaring down at the twins with a rage that only Ratchet could match,

"And just what in the frag do you think you were doing to my car?!"

"S-Sorry!"

"Didn't I tell you I'd cannibalize your parts if you even so much as scratched my car?!"

"Y-Yes! W-We're sorry, Carrier! We won't do it ever again!"

Surprise twisted Ace's features as she was pretty sure that the Cybertronian equivalent for a Mother was called a Carrier. It didn't bother her to be called that and seeing the cowering state the younger twins were in, Ace nodded even as her glare returned,

"Do not touch my car again without express permission! That's like me yanking your chassis open to touch your spark chamber."

"Yo, sorry Carrier. We didn't know."

"Exactly. Now get!"

"Yes, Carrier!"

The twins scrambled to their pedes, yelping as Ace's large wrench smacked firmly across their aft plates and hauled it down the hall, pushing each other as they scrambled to get away faster.

"That's all your fault, fragging aft wipe! Now Carrier's mad at us!"  
"Frag you Flaps! It was your fault, man!"

Shaking her head, Ace went ahead and drove her car back into her quarters, having left it down the hall from the med bay seeing as Ratchet didn't like it parked in the med bay.

Especially when there was a risk of someone tripping over it so she tried to keep it outside of the med bay but not right outside of the doors.

* * *

A/N: Shout out to NightmareWolf24 for the favorite. Read and Review people! ~Gin


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: This is going to be a pretty short chapter so I'll be uploading a second one, shortly. Shout out to katmar1994 for the review, you are AWESOME and shout out to Jazzy757505 for the follow. Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. ~Gin

* * *

Chapter 6:

"Speaking"

* * *

An explosion rocking the base had Ace abandoning heading to the med bay, rushing back into her quarters and seconds later her car had roared out, drifting around a corner,

"Red Alert, where was the explosion?"

"Wheeljack's lab!"

"On it! Get Inferno down there to help put out any flames."

"Yes ma'am."

The Autobots made a path as Ace's car roared down the halls, the specific sound of the engine was familiar enough with them on the battlefield to know that she was going to help.

Roaring into Wheeljack's lab, Ace spotted the slightly charred scientist and rushed forwards, pulling the tow lines from the front of her car and hooked them around Wheeljack's shoulders after checking to make sure he could be moved.

Jumping into her car, Ace slammed her car in reverse and her car roared back, struggling a bit with Wheeljack's weight before more of the horsepower kicked in and she began to drag the injured scientist back.

Ratchet rushed around the corner, right as Ace dragged Wheeljack's unconscious frame out of the flaming science room.

Wheezing as the thick smoke billowed out, Ace rushed forwards, unhooking Wheeljack's shoulders before drawing back in the towing lines, coughing so hard her body was jerking now.

Climbing into her car, her eyes watering and stinging, her lungs aching so bad it was like she was trying to breathe fire, Ace peeled into a donut before her car shot down the halls.

Noting Ace's wheezing, Ratchet settled Wheeljack's frame on one of the berth's before carefully setting a human sized oxygen mask over her face as she coughed and clutched it to her face.

"That was foolish of you Ace but thank you for pulling Wheeljack out."

With watery eyes Ace weakly gave Ratchet a thumbs up as she continued to cough, noting Ratchet turn the oxygen up a bit higher before he began to work on Wheeljack.

Having heard that Ace had pulled Wheeljack from the fire, Optimus had cautiously entered the med bay out of concern.

"You can come in Optimus. Wheeljack is patched up and Ace is still on the oxygen."

Hearing Ace's wheezing intakes, Optimus moved over to her side, finding her on a smaller berth on Ratchet's desk.

Running a finger gently over Ace's legs, Optimus noted when her eyes blearily opened before she smiled and pat his finger.

"I'm okay. Just a little too much smoke inhalation. Not enough that it'll kill me thank goodness. I'm just going to have to be on oxygen for a couple days."

"I see."

Needless to say, once it circulated that Ace was actually a patient in the med bay, everyone was in a scramble to check on her, at least until Ratchet had lost his temper and roared at them all to get the frag out.

Ratchet made sure to keep a close optic on Ace as inhaling smoke from a fire was deadly for humans but after a couple days she could breathe easily and he allowed her to resume her rounds in the med bay.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Huge Shout out to Hopeless Echo for reviewing all of the previous chapters! You are awesome and I'm glad you're liking the story so well, even if my editing skills arent' exactly up to par. So, thanks again, Hopeless Echo. Read, REVIEW, and Enjoy, everybody! ~Gin

* * *

Chapter 7:

"Speaking"

* * *

Two years passed and Ace was just as vital part of the Autobots as Ratchet and Optimus themselves, every single one of the Spec Ops treated Ace like family despite the fact that she was human.

Time and time again Ace had proven herself on the battlefield, whether it was her vicious protective streak that caused her to lay down fire from her plasma pistol or dragging an injured bot to safety.

Anytime someone just needed to talk, Ace was there to lend an ear and always seemed to have excellent advice, seriously there wasn't a single bot who didn't like her.

Even Red Alert seemed to like her, well as best as could be guessed with his paranoid nature and his penchant for being a bit harsh with newcomers.

Walking through the halls, Ace walked into Wheeljack's office having needed to bring him in for a checkup as he had done pretty good about not mortally injuring himself.

However it was always bound to change and the faster she could get in to tell him he had a checkup, the faster she could retreat to the safety of the hall.

"Wheeljack."

"Oh. Hello Ace, can I-"

Just as Wheeljack turned to look over at Ace, the metal of the tool he was using had touched the last remaining shard of the Allspark before an massive explosion rocked through the room.

Slamming into the hard wall, stars burst across Ace's vision before pain like nothing she had ever felt before pierced her chest causing her to scream out.

Ace lay on her side in a daze, unaware that she had been completely skewered through with the last shard of the Allspark before she began to crawl forwards, noting that Wheeljack had been badly charred.

Pain wracked Ace's body with every breath, every movement it took to drag her body towards the alarm before she reached up, flailing as her vision doubled and she kept trying to grab the wrong switch.

A warm taste of copper filled Ace's mouth as she coughed, angling her body up to grab the switch before her legs gave out, allowing her to pull it down as the alarm began to sound.

Wheezing even as she felt as if she were drowning, Ace slowly crawled towards Wheeljack, laying next to his helm in exhaustion after just a few feet of movement.

"Jackie…help's coming…Jack…"

Darkness tunneled in on Ace's vision, the world spinning until she felt like she was moving even though she knew she wasn't.

Hearing the heavy thud of footsteps rushing towards Wheeljack's lab, Ace smiled weakly, as she pet Wheeljack's face before vaguely hearing an anguished cry before the world finally went dark and everything faded.

Optimus had been closest when Wheeljack's alarm had went off yet again causing him to leap into a run, however when the door opened he was not expecting a trail of blood to lead to Wheeljack's side, showing Ace with the shard of the Allspark completely pierced through her.

An anguished cry tore itself from his vocalizer as he rushed forwards, kneeling beside Wheeljack and Ace before carefully picking Ace's body up in his servos as Ratchet lifted Wheeljack into his arms.

Roaring back to the med bay, Ratchet had First Aid tend to Wheeljack as he scanned over Ace his optics going wide at the feedback.

"Optimus…"

"What? What is it?!"

"She's…she's bonding with the Allspark shard."

"She's what?"

Moving forwards, Optimus's optics widened at the sight of the silver light pulsing into Ace's body as she lay on her side, his own sensors reading the Allspark merging with Ace.

"What do we do Ratchet?"

"I have no idea. I've never dealt with the Allspark bonding with a human before but I believe it would be most wise to let it do what it will."

Optimus nodded before walking out of the room, only to nearly be run over by nearly every Autobot in the base, piled up outside of the med bay.

Giving them a quick rundown on the situation, Optimus sent them back to their posts, assuring those that were more upset than those who had managed to go back to their posts.

Finishing the incident report, Optimus headed back to the med bay, his frame aching with every step out of exhaustion, however he ignored the normal ache of his frame.

Hearing the door open, Ratchet looked over to see Optimus looking rather worn out but this time he didn't say anything, merely nodded to Optimus who nodded back before walking into the ICU where Ace had been moved.

It had only been a day since the incident but already, all of Ace's veins had taken on a silver hue and the shard seemed to have shrunk a bit.

Seeing Ace lying on the small berth was spark breaking, she looked so small and fragile, even more so than usual and her normally vibrant persona was gone, replaced by a pale shell.

Sitting down in the offered chair, Optimus quietly spoke of his day and how things had gone as well as how worried he was about her until he ran out of things to talk about and bid Ace a good recharge before heading to his own quarters for recharge.

Every day had Ace changing into a Cybertronian form and in two weeks the human body of Ace was no more and in her place lay an interstellar femme.

Optimus had mourned the loss of the human Ace, but had welcomed Ace's new Interstellar frame, holding onto her clawed servo, unaware of the conversation she was making to the ancient Primes.

Ace had floated in darkness for an unknown amount of time and honestly, she had thought that she had died and if it was death, it had fucking sucked.

At least until the towering forms of the ancient Primes had walked into her vision and had began to explain exactly why she was there.

"So you're telling me that basically this is an accident. Honestly, I'm basically the new Allspark now?! I'm human in case you haven't noticed!"

"Dear spark, you aren't human anymore."

"I'm- what?!"

Looking down at herself, Ace definitely did not see human hands but rather a claw tipped Cybertronian's hands or rather servos as they were called.

"Now, now, there is no time to panic we have a lot to teach you as a new Prime and very little time to do so."

"Prime status is earned not given."

"And you have indeed earned it. Did you not think that we have not watched over you as well as our descendant?"

"Perhaps. Anyways, let's get to work."

Unknown to Ace, a year had passed while she had learned what she could from the Primes before they finally allowed her to regain what consciousness she could in her new body.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Shout out to A guest and guest: ladybug02 for leaving reviews! You are awesome! Shout out to Anonymous Stars Wars Fan 1997 for the favorite. Hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Read and REVIEW if you please! Seriously, reviews would be awesome! Lots of love. ~Gin

* * *

Chapter 8:

"Speaking"

* * *

Ratchet hauled aft into the ICU as Ace's vitals exploded in panic, sending an alarm screaming throughout the med bay.

However, once inside the ICU he found her still lying exactly where she had been for the last year but her optics were finally online, showing a deep gold for her optic color.

Ace vaguely spotted Ratchet at her side, well, she guessed she couldn't really call herself Ace anymore as the Primes had renamed her Tempest Prime.

Despite that she was in an absolute panic as she couldn't move at all, she couldn't even speak as Ratchet quickly scanned her over.

"Everything looks good, you're just going to have to figure out how your frame moves. I'm going to start by moving you helm and I'll work my way down so you get a feel of how it is supposed to move."

Knowing Ace couldn't respond, Ratchet gently lifted and turned her helm, allowing Ace to get the feel for the cables and commands moving across her HUD.

Ratchet was also helping to work out some of the stiffness Ace's frame would carry for a while until she was actually able to get up and move on her own.

Noting Ratchet in the ICU, First Aid had cautiously peeked his helm inside to see Ratchet carefully rotating Ace's arm joints before he noted her optics were online.

Excitement bit hard but he made sure to keep a good grip on it as there were still some recovering patients within the ICU and moved forwards to assist Ratchet in getting Ace mobile once more.

Paying close attention to how her frame and cables moved, coupled with the display across her HUD, Ace waited until Ratchet and First Aid had finally rotated her ankle joints before trying to move herself.

The effort was weak, allowing her to only lift her arm a couple inches from the berth before it collapsed back against it,

"That's great! You're doing great Ace."

Static and chirps garbled from Ace's vocalizer causing Ratchet to scan it over before manually stimulating it so she could get a feel for the cords as well.

Exhaustion bit hard and Ace had only just woke up but already she was slipping back into recharge as Ratchet changed out the energon line in her arm for a fresh one.

Hearing Ace's frame power down into recharge again, Ratchet nodded even as he smiled and gently pet Ace's chassis,

"Welcome back, kid. The Prime's been driving me crazy. First Aid, we'll let her recharge for as long as possible so don't even bother to inform anyone she has come online. She'll have to be put on aggressive physical therapy once she gets up and moving."

"Yes Ratchet."

Having been lying still, staring up at the same ceiling for nearly a week, Ace was not exactly happy as she could still barely control her frame.

Honestly, the only way she could do so was to go over every single part that made her what she was, starting from the very top of her sensor horns and even after a week, she had just gotten to working on her chassis.

At least now she could speak and definitely welcomed any visitors, speaking of, hearing the door open, Ace slowly tilted her optics to see Jazz walking in.

"Afternoon, sweet spark."

Jazz smiled as Ace's face lit up at the sight of him and a smile curled her lips before he sat down on the berth, pulling her limp arm up and setting it over his lap as he scooted back until his lower back struts touched her side.

"How ya feelin'?"

"Bored."

"Sounds like yer getting better at usin' yer vocalizer."

"Bee has…helped."

Ignoring the soft hiss of static that broke Ace's sentence, Jazz nodded before he began to tell her about his day, keeping her distracted from her immobility.

Even in stillness he could tell that her processors were running ninety to nothing, trying to get her frame up and moving and it made him very proud of her, not that he hadn't been proud of her as a human.

"So wha' all happened when ya were out fer ah year? Nobody's been wantin' tah ask ya."

"I spoke with the Primes."

"Dah Primes?!"

"I guess I forgot to tell you seeing as I've been so focused on trying to actually move. My new designation is Tempest Prime."

Jazz jumped up so fast he was a mere black and silver blur before Ace, no Tempest Prime's arm slammed back against the berth causing her to wince,

"Ah'm so sorry Prime! Ah didn' know ya were one! Ah've done nothing but be insubordinate this entire time! Ah thought ya were still Ace."

"I am still Ace! But I'm Tempest Prime too. You can call me Tempest if you'd like."

"Ac- Tempest, ah'm very sorry."

"Do you not want to be my brother anymore, Jazz?"

"Wha? Nah, it's nah tha'."

"So you still will continue to call me Sis. You're my family Jazz. Rules and regulations can be a little more lenient with family, now get your aft back up here and keep me company."

Chuckling even as he rubbed the back of his neck cables, Jazz climbed back up onto the berth, setting the now designated Tempest's arm into his lap.

"Have ya told Optimus yet?"

"Slag, no. I've been so focused on getting this slag heap of a frame of mine moving that I completely forgot. When I first came to I thought about it but then forgot after I had panicked."

"It's alrigh' sis. If ya want, ah can tell 'im."

"No thanks, Jazz. I'll tell him when he comes by in the evening."

"Sure thin'."

"Now what music have you got for me today, big brother?"

Warmth filled Jazz's spark, having no siblings of his own, he had always wanted at least one and it seemed after countless millennia, he would finally get one.

"Well sweet spark, ah found some pretty interesting tunes ah couple days ago."

That being said, soft music began to play from his speakers, seeing as Tempest was still in the ICU, he kept all the music soft as both began to focus on the music.

Ratchet smirked seeing Jazz sitting up beside Ace, entertaining them both but Jazz had a shift to cover and Ratchet eventually chased him out, albeit a bit less violently than he usually did.

"How's my best patient doing today?"

Smiling at the chuckle he got, Ratchet walked over to Ace's side, nodding when her helm was actually able to follow his movements,

"You're getting there. Slowly but surely."

"I can twitch my shoulders now."

True to her word, Ace's shoulders twitched slightly causing Ratchet to nod and pat them,

"That's really good Ace, keep it up and soon enough you'll be up and walking."

"Ah slag."

"What? What is it? Do you hurt somewhere?"

Scanning over Ace again, Ratchet couldn't find anything wrong or out of the ordinary causing him to look back into Ace's golden optics, which were in fact very rare a color.

"Uh Ratchet, please don't smack me with your wrench because I seriously can't defend myself here."

"What did you do?"

"Me? Nothing. The Primes on the other hand-"

"The Primes?!"

Wincing at the volume his voice had taken, Ratchet hissed softly,

"What in the frag do you mean the Primes?"

"My new designation is Tempest Prime. Check my spark if you don't believe me. Prime Sparks are a different color according to what I've been told. An almost white-blue correct?"

"Y-yes."

Shock had Ratchet swaying on his pedes before he felt as if his frame were cocooned by something, causing him to blink in surprise.

Looking down, Ratchet was shocked to find that he was literally sitting in midair before he glared over at Ace, no Tempest, frag it!

"Put me down this instant little miss or I'll give you a dent. You shouldn't even be trying your Metalkinesis on me."

"Metalkinesis?"

Ratchet squirmed slightly before he was carefully set on his pedes allowing him to walk closer to Tempest's berth.

"Metalkinesis is basically moving any form of metal with your processors. Seeing as you just lifted me, that would make it Metalkinesis due to my frame. Had you lifted something other than metal it would be telekinesis. All Primes have at least telekinesis of varying strengths. Some can only call their weapons, others can move planets."

"Wow!"

"No, no wow! Don't you be trying any of that when you're still recovering. You could injure yourself."

"Boo. Yes, Ratchet."

"Good femme. Now do you know your Prime ability?"

"You do know that I am basically the new Allspark right?"

Ratchet's processors froze before shutting down, causing his frame to begin to crumple but before he could hit the floor, unknown to him, Tempest had caught him with her ability once more.

Using her Metalkinesis, Tempest managed to shove her frame to the side a little bit before settling Ratchet down next to her on the berth.

Prowl was usually the only one who had a processor glitch every now and then, though the number had been greatly reduced once Jazz, his spark mate had started taking personal offense to those who glitched him.

For Ratchet to have one was surprising but then again she had probably really surprised him as well.

Exhaustion tugged at Tempest's processors, however she fought it off as best she could to send a call for First Aid by using her Metalkinesis again to press the call button at the bottom of the berth.

Within seconds First Aid had rushed into the room before noting Ratchet curled up on Ace's berth,

"First Aid, I need you to listen to me and not glitch alright?"

"I'll do my best."

"My designation is no longer Ace, it is Tempest Prime."

Having figured that it would be best not to tell anyone else but senior members, Tempest refrained from telling First Aid that she was in fact the new Allspark.  
First Aid wavered, his frame tilting slightly as he fought to keep from glitching in shock, however he managed and straightened, using Tempest's berth to keep himself upright for the moment,

"O-Okay."

"I plan on telling Optimus to have a base wide announcement when he comes to visit in the next couple of hours. Ratchet has had a processor glitch, can you give him some pain relievers and I'll help you transfer him onto the mobile berth.

"Of course!"

Hurrying out of the ICU, First Aid almost tripped over his own pedes, the tension cables in his legs still shaking.

Pushing the mobile berth back into the ICU, First Aid watched in amazement as Ratchet suddenly began to float in the air before being settled gently on the berth where First Aid injected a pain reliever into the main energon line in his arm.

Backing out of the ICU, First Aid noted Tempest's optics flickering slightly before going dark as her frame relaxed against the berth once more.

After settling Ratchet in the med bay, First Aid went back into the ICU to scan Tempest over, finding that she was in recharge and merely left her to her rest, pulling the thermablanket up to her chassis.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

"Speaking"

* * *

Walking into the med bay, Optimus noted a rather shell shocked looking Ratchet who merely waved him along into the ICU.

Once again, Optimus found his gaze captivated by Ace's new frame, her sleek design was definitely optic catching and her paint was almost chameleon like.

In one angle she could look black framed, another angle and she could look dark purple framed, another angle and she could look dark blue framed, much like her car had been.

Sitting down in the normal chair, Optimus gently grabbed Ace's clawed, delicate servo, he didn't mind that she was in recharge of course and began to tell her of his day.

Coming online to the rich baritone cadence of Optimus, Tempest merely kept her optics offline as she listened to him explain his day as she focused on her servos and the parts that made them up.

Having just been about to get up to head back to his office, Optimus paused feeling Ace's servos slowly tighten around his and sat back down,

"Ace?"

Watching as Ace's golden optics flickered online, Optimus couldn't help but smile back as Ace smiled up at him,

"Actually, it's Tempest Prime now."

Tempest absolutely could not control the shocked squeak that escaped her vocalizer when Optimus's arms suddenly curled under her shoulders, pulling her torso up against him into a hug.

She didn't complain though as her face remained pressed against Optimus's neck cables, her frame limp in his hold.

Gently cradling Tempest's helm, Optimus settled her back on the berth a smile lighting his face,

"This is wonderful news. Is that why it took you so long to return to awareness?"

"Yes, I spent a year I guess talking to the Primes. They have a lot to talk about."

Chuckling softly, Optimus fixed the thermablanket back up over Tempest's chassis before lifting the upper half of the berth to where she was partially sitting up.

"Oh, this is much better. Thank you."

"You are most welcome."

"Will you give out a base wide announcement of my new designation and all that?"

"Of course."

Within seconds, everyone in the base knew of Ace's new designation and title while Optimus stayed behind a few more minutes to visit with Tempest before reluctantly heading back to his office.

With Tempest continuing to work on getting her frame moving, she was able to finally move her entire frame at will in three months, though she hadn't bothered to tell Ratchet that she had been practicing walking.

With shaky tension cables, Tempest carefully walked out of the ICU, knowing that Ratchet was in recharge, leaning against the wall to keep from tripping.

Optimus's optics blazed in shock seeing Tempest shakily walking down the halls and immediately moved forwards as a smile lit her face and she held out her arms.

Sighing softly in relief as Optimus's arms wrapped tight around her upper back and waist, Tempest leaned her weight against him for a moment, giving her shaky legs a break as she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders.

"D-did you see me? I managed to walk all the way from the med bay."

"You did very well."

Straightening slightly, Optimus easily lifted Tempest a mere foot off the ground seeing as she was both Prime and Interstellar she was very tall for a femme, her build was still delicate looking.

However, Soundwave looked quite delicate and femme-like but he still could pack a hit just as hard as Megatron could, just without the bulk.

Once Tempest was fully steady on her pedes, Optimus was quite sure that she could be just as hard a hitter as he was if not more so due to her interstellar status.

"Would you like to go outside?"

"Please?"

"Can you walk that far?"

"One way to find out."

Reluctantly setting Tempest on her pedes once more, Optimus kept an arm around her waist as he moved to her side rather than in front of her to assist her in walking outside.

Looking up at the night sky, Tempest tripped over her own pedes, her processors seizing in wonder at the sight of just how many stars there were in the sky as her HUD began to name the constellations and stars themselves.

Feeling Tempest suddenly lurch, Optimus quickly tightened his grip around Tempest's waist, keeping her upright as her face lit up in pure awe as she looked up at the night sky.

"Is this what you see all the time? No wonder you like star gazing so much."

Chuckling softly, Optimus sat down at the edge of the tarmac, helping Tempest to sit as well and knowing most of the constellations now, Tempest was able to tell Optimus the most common of human legends that went with them.

Human legends fascinated Optimus and he made sure to listen to each story that Tempest was willing to tell him before her voice slowly trailed off and her frame leaned heavily against his side.

Shuttering his optics in a blink at the sudden warmth pressed fully against his side, Optimus looked over to see that Tempest had fallen into recharge.

Smiling even as he gently shook his helm, Optimus carefully shifted his arms beneath Tempest's knee joints and her middle back, making sure not to touch her wings as they were extremely sensitive on an Interstellar.

More so than they were on Seekers and unless one was intimate with said Seeker or Interstellar, no one ever touched their wings outside of a combat situation or medical emergency.

Struggling just a bit, Optimus managed to shift to his knee joints before he pulled Tempest's frame against his chassis and easily stood now that he was no longer twisted awkwardly.

Carrying a recharging Tempest down the halls, Optimus couldn't resist resting his lips against Tempest's fore helm.

Optimus had made sure to keep his affection for the human known as Ace very well hidden, not wishing to distress her or in his own selfishness, have to suffer from her rejection.

Maybe with her now being a Cybertronian, he had a chance to actually enter into a relationship with her, granted his last relationship had ended very poorly. It hadn't been the femme's fault but rather Optimus's own inexperience that had soured the relationship before it could really even be counted as such.

Not to say that Elita One hadn't stayed with him for well over five centuries, but she had wanted more than he found himself capable of giving and had broken it off.

Elita One had died not long afterwards on a raid where their intel had been unaware that Shockwave was currently staying in the location of the base. Even with Elita One's skills, Shockwave had easily torn right through her without so much as condensation slicking his frame from exertion.

Lifting his lips from Tempest's fore helm, Optimus tapped the med bay doors lightly with his pede before it silently slid open and he carried Tempest back into the ICU.

Having been making his midnight rounds when he couldn't recharge, Jazz had smiled warmly at the sight of Optimus ever so carefully cradling Tempest's frame to his chassis. It did his spark good to see Optimus finally letting someone in again after Elita's murder and honestly, Jazz didn't think that Optimus could do better than Tempest.

Granted it wasn't the best time to find someone to care about in the middle of a war, but Jazz wouldn't dare to deny them what happiness they could find. Stalking down the darkened halls of the base, Jazz headed to Prowl's office to gather up his spark mate for a recharge cycle.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

"Speaking"

* * *

Coming online, Tempest found that she was once more resting in the ICU ward of the med bay and carefully stood, she had only been hiding that she could walk short distances from Ratchet so that she could walk to Optimus first.

Feeling a sudden weight against his shoulders, Ratchet nearly jumped out of his damn armor, ready to give the mech a piece of his processors for using him as a damn arm rest. At least until he found that it was actually Tempest leaning against him and immediately turned to where his servos rested against her waist to keep her steady.

"Looks like you can finally move your frame on your own."

"Yes, not as well or as smoothly as I would like though."

"It's to be expected. You were human for the first twenty-one years of your life."

"And wouldn't you know I didn't even get to enjoy a drink for my twenty-first birthday."

Chuckling, Ratchet began to move backwards, gently tugging Tempest along with him, noting her shaky tension cables but while she was unsteady, she didn't seem to be in any pain. Which allowed Ratchet to figure that it was just her still getting used to her frame.

"Now that you can stay online for more than a couple minutes at a time, we'll begin your physical therapy so to speak. Get you up to where you can move normally."

"Sounds great to me."

"I'll also move you out of the ICU."  
"Thank Primus."

Smirking, Ratchet continued to focus on Tempest's physical therapy before eventually giving into her pleads to actually being able to go to the mess hall.

Carefully walking down the hall, her arm over Ratchet's shoulders as his arm remained wrapped around her waist, Tempest focused on putting one shaky pede in front of the other until she was outside of the mess hall.

A roar of cheers went up as Tempest walked into the mess hall from human and Cybertronian alike and Ironhide was quick to move to Tempest's other side, wrapping his arm around her waist as well as his cannon whirled in warning on his free arm.

"Don't go crowding her all at once! She just got out of the ICU you aft-helmed slagheaps!"

With Ratchet and Ironhide escorting her to a seat, Tempest sighed softly as she sat down greeting the others warmly even as they greeted her excitedly in return.

Feeling warmth wrap around her knee joints, Tempest looked down to see the younger twins had wrapped their arms around her legs and smiled, gently running her clawed servos over their helms before they released her,

"Good to see you up and around, Carrier."

"Yeah! It's awesome seein' you up and moving."

"Thanks mechs."

Tempest greeted Sam and Will warmly, having become good friends with them in the year she had been human. She had also been there to help Sam get over his breakup with Mikaela though they had done their best to make it work, it had just been too much for Mikaela.

"Damn! You look awesome Tempi!"

"Tempi?"

"Oh sorry."

Watching the biological changes on a human were absolutely fascinating and Tempest was easily able to see that Sam was quite embarrassed before she lowered her clawed servo and waited for Will and Sam to climb up before setting them on the table.

"So, Tempi?"

"Sorry, you are a Prime and all but it's a nickname for Tempest."

"I like it."

Jumping at the sudden thud of a cube being set down in front of her, Tempest noted Ratchet's small smile of apology as she carefully picked up the cube, studying it.

"You need to drink it, not look at it like it's gonna eat you."

Pressing the cube to her lips, Tempest hesitated for a moment before taking a vent and tipping the contents back into her mouth.

It was surprisingly sweet but honestly felt like she was drinking liquid sunshine as it warmed her frame as it began to cycle through.

Everyone laughed amicably at Tempest's awed expression after she swallowed her first mouthful but slowly began to resume their activities before Tempest had been helped into the room.

Tempest could sense quite a bit of residual Allspark energy within Sam and surprisingly enough Will but focused on drinking her energon cube, enjoying the energy boost she got from it.

Eventually Ratchet began to usher Tempest back to the med bay, knowing that she would be slipping into recharge soon, which was why he had Ironhide follow as Ironhide would be able to lift and carry Tempest a lot easier than he could.

Not to say that Ratchet couldn't lift her as he was a frag of a lot stronger than his frame looked but with her wings, he would be forced to carry her at an awkward angle that would probably pull a few tension cables.

Staggering as her optics began to flicker, warnings flashed across her HUD about needing recharge, Tempest staggered slightly as her knee joints bumped into something causing her to focus past the warnings to see Ironhide partially crouched in front of her.

"Ironhide?"

"Humans call it a piggyback right?"

"Right."

Shifting forwards, Tempest wrapped her arms around Ironhide's broad shoulders before he hooked his servos around the back of her knees and stood, following after Ratchet to the med bay.

Rather than lay her on her back this time, as it was the most vulnerable position a flier could be in, despite the fact that she was an interstellar and was much more flexible than a seeker, Ratchet had her partially reclined on a special berth made specifically with fliers in mind.

Tempest let out a sigh through her vents as her wings were practically cradled by what she could only describe as feeling like memory foam.

It was extremely comfortable to say the very least causing her to murmur her thanks to Ratchet and Ironhide for setting her on such a soft berth, missing their twin smirks as she slid into recharge.

Making sure that Tempest was truly comfortable, Ratchet pulled a thick thermablanket up to Tempest's shoulders before dimming the med bay lights.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

"Speaking"

* * *

Rarely did Optimus indulge in high grade but he had to admit, he might have overdone it as he staggered down the halls, trying to keep his balance as his internal stabilizers seemed to short circuit due to the high grade running through his system.

Leaning against the wall for a moment to get steady, Optimus headed to the med bay to maybe get something that would help ease his overcharged systems.

Once inside, Optimus blearily looked around the dim med bay, surprised in all honesty to find that Ratchet had already settled in for recharge for the night, either that or it was a lot later than he had thought.

Spotting Tempest's recharging frame, Optimus smiled before stumbling over to her side.

Tempest jerked out of recharge feeling her frame being jostled and looked over to see Optimus who according to her scan was clearly overcharged which was why she didn't complain as he wrapped his arms around her waist, his helm resting against her shoulder as he tangled his around hers.

Shaking her helm as Optimus shut down into recharge, Tempest reached down where the thermablanket had been tossed to the side so that Optimus could lay next to her frame to frame, she pulled it over them both.

Venting a sigh, Tempest wrapped an arm around Optimus's back, hoping that he wouldn't fall off the berth before she slid back into recharge.

Snickering brought Optimus online, his helm aching before he blearily onlined an optic to see the older twins looking down at him and for a moment wondered how they had managed to get into his quarters.

At least until he recognized the outlay of the med bay and wondered how he had gotten there before he felt a frame shift against his own,

"Alright, you two have had your fun. Out before I set Ratchet on you two."

"Aw come on, Tempest. This is great. I've never seen Optimus so clingy."

"Out mechs."

"Yeah, yeah."

While they had wanted to refuse, Tempest was in fact a Prime and definitely outranked them and while she had been human she was quite laid-back, they weren't going to push their luck.

Especially seeing as Ratchet would be coming into the med bay from his own quarters in mere minutes.

Knowing that he was practically resting against Tempest didn't rouse Optimus from his daze, the processor ache forming in his helm making it difficult to form a thought process.

That and Tempest didn't seem to be complaining as she pulled the thermablanket over his shoulder once more.

Pausing in surprise at the sight of Tempest pulling the thermablanket up onto Optimus's shoulder as he rested against her side, practically curled around her, Ratchet shook his helm.

He had known that Optimus had dipped into the high grade the night before but apparently he had overdone it a bit.

Ratchet wouldn't complain seeing as he had made it to the med bay safely, even if he had bunked down with Tempest, she hadn't complained either which was why he merely grabbed something to ease Optimus's processor ache and settle the overcharged internal systems.

Carefully injecting the contents into Optimus's main energon line, Ratchet could see his expression ease out of its pained grimace.

Optimus was absolutely mortified to find that he had climbed into Tempest's berth and wrapped around her to sleep as if she were a frame pillow.

It had been a long time since he had such a lapse in his controls and functions but Tempest had merely waved his apologies off as she had carefully stood.

Swaying slightly, Tempest waited for her internal stabilizers to kick in, noting Optimus's servos resting at her sides as she gained her balance.

"Optimus, walk her to the mess hall for her morning energon."

"Of course Ratchet."

Following after Optimus, Tempest made sure to follow rather close behind him before her vents hitched as she tripped over her pedes.

However before she could fall too far, Optimus had twisted, easily catching her frame before helping her back to her pedes, resting his servos against her torso,

"Steady?"

Swaying slightly, Tempest waited as her arms rested on Optimus's until she stabilized her balance and nodded to Optimus who released her slowly and began to walk again but this time at a slower pace and stayed directly beside her.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

"Speaking"

* * *

Hearing the sound of music, Tempest smiled as she spotted Jazz dancing in the mess hall as the others watched.

Seeing as it was quite a normal sight, Optimus went to get them both their morning energon before Tempest moved over beside Jazz and began to dance with him, granted a bit slower, both kept the beat quite well.

Jazz's smile nearly split his face as Tempest began to dance with him, she was a bit slower than usual but it didn't make her any less of a good dancer.

Even as a human, she had been Jazz's best dance partner cause the femme could bust some slagging good moves.

Chuckling, Optimus shook his helm watching Jazz and Tempest dance together, though she was now a bit taller than Jazz, his helm only reaching the bottom of her chassis but they still danced together so well, that had it not been so obvious of their height and frame difference, one wouldn't have noticed.

Eventually Jazz ushered the shaky limbed Tempest over to a table, turning the music down to more normal levels before Optimus handed her an energon cube.

Slowly drinking the energon, Tempest enjoyed the sweetness and warmth as energy began to hum through her frame and she was definitely enjoying the energy boost.

"This stuff is better than coffee."

"Them's fighting words, sweetheart."

Tempest smiled as she looked over at Will as he settled down on the large table, holding his own mug of coffee and a tray of his breakfast.

"Hey, I used to live off coffee, believe me when I tell you that this stuff is pretty good."

Chuckles sounded around the table as Tempest had again sat with the Spec Ops though none of them ever complained, they merely moved over to make room for both her and Optimus.

Really, it put them more at ease to have both Primes so close to their immediate protection and none of them complained as Will and Sam sat on the table beside Tempest.

"So how's it feel being a bot now?"

"Very, very odd. To even be able to move I had to go over every single part of my new frame and believe me when I tell you, that took a long fragging time."

"Three months isn't too bad."

At that, Hound perked up, offering his own opinion on the matter,

"Actually, that is quite a bit of time. Most mechs and femmes would be done in a Terran month at the longest a month and a half. Two at the absolute tops."

"Oh. Oh wow."

"Ha! See?"

Touching the warm metal of Tempest's index finger, Sam noted the deadly claws that tipped them and began to move her finger, watching as the joints and parts moved as he did so.

"So can you retract these bad boys?"

Looking over the claws that tipped her fingers, Tempest shrugged,

"I…don't think I can? Jazz?"

Gently grabbing Tempest's wrist joint, Jazz pulled her servo over in front of him, checking how her servo was designed,

"Nah, Those ain't evah gonna retract. Not like mine."

Sam's eyes went wide as Jazz's fingers seemed to flex before deadly claws suddenly tipped his previously harmless looking fingers.

"Wow! So can they retract kind of like a cats?"

Pausing to look up how cat's claws retracted, Jazz nodded,

"Yeah, most ah the mechs round 'ere have retractable claws. Not all ah 'em of course. Even Optimus has retractable ones, 'e has the retractable knuckle spikes too. They act kinda like yer brass knuckles."

"That's so cool! Can I see?"

Having been fond of Sam for quite some time, Optimus lifted his servo before the slightly flattened digits that had cradled Sam so carefully to his chassis and saved him many a time, shifted, the digits thinning slightly to become tipped with deadly claws.

The bots all smiled at the almost sparkling like awe on Sam's face as he rushed across the table, holding up his arms to Optimus who immediately lowered his now clawed servo to his level.

"Oh wow! Wow!"

Looking over her own clawed digits, Tempest wiggled them before looking back over at Jazz,

"Is it bad that I can't retract them?"

"Absolutely not, Sis. Ain't nothing wrong wit' it."

"Okay."

Reassured by Jazz's words, Tempest let the subject drop as Sam eventually released Optimus as well and finished his by now cold breakfast but he didn't complain.

This time Jazz was the one to escort Tempest back to the med bay, she was getting stronger though thankfully and wasn't having as many problems staying up on her pedes.

"When do you think I'll be able to go into an alt mode?"

"Ya can ask Ratchet tha'. Normally ah mech or femme would just be able tah go ahead and scan ah machine dat catches their optics. Yer ah special case and Ratchet'd have tah see if ya can scan properly."

"Okay. What if I already know what I want to be?"

"Again, ask Ratchet. He'll get yer scanners workin' properly if they ain't already and then we can ask Lennox an' Epps if they can't get tha machine ya want."

"Alright, thanks Jazz."

"Nah ah problem, sis."

Waving happily as Tempest walked into the med bay, Jazz headed off for his morning shift of monitor duty, it was boring as all slag but they had to all take shifts for it as there were so few Bots there.

Red Alert had quite a bit of work to do already as he was still trying to get the security systems properly set up to his standards which had always been outrageously high.

But slag, if anyone could get it done it would be ol' Red Alert and they were due for more Autobots to be arriving within the end of the month.

Even the Wrecker crew had sent back word that they were coming to Earth, granted it would take them a while to get there if nothing went wrong.

No one was complaining and the Wreckers were just a different branch of the Spec Ops and a bit more reckless but they did their damn jobs well and Jazz was always proud of them.

"Ratchet?"

Turning, hearing Tempest call his designation, Ratchet gave her his full attention as he wasn't tending to patients,

"Yes?"

"When do you think I can scan for an Alt mode?"

"Park it over on the berth and I'll give you a quick scan myself."

Obeying, Tempest shifted to where she was on the berth before feeling Ratchet's scan,

"Looks like you could do it now if you wanted to. Any alt modes in mind?"

"Yeah. Do you think I could track down Epps and Lennox?"

"Yes but if you get tired you had better sit down to rest, I don't care if it's in the middle of the hall or not."

"Yes Ratchet."

"Good femme. Now go on."

Happily escaping from the med bay, Tempest went looking for Epps and Lennox seeing as she didn't have a real good control on any of her scanners and she had a little trouble reading the output of her senses but she was slowly improving.

Honestly though, Tempest missed her car, but had been informed by the Primes that her car was now a part of her own frame and was no more.

Despite this, Red Alert gently tapped into her comms, assisting her on where to go having heard her ask Ratchet about Epps and Lennox, helping her find them in record time and causing her to send her warm thanks back to him.

"Hey Tempest. Don't see you in these parts often."

"Well I'm getting better at walking without actually falling flat on my faceplates."

"Always an improvement."

Crouching down, Tempest unconsciously flared her wings to keep her balance as she looked down at Epps and Lennox,

"I'm needing an Alt mode, well two, seeing as the Primes told me I was a dual changer. Think you can get what I need?"

"We can give it our best shot, put it up through the guys up top. What are you lookin' for?"

"I'm looking for a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and a Bugatti Chiron."

Epps whistled at the Alt modes that Tempest wanted, they were a bit difficult to come by but she would look bitchin' once she got into her actual alt mode rather than her almost base frame.

"We'll see if we can't get them for you."

"Thanks guys."

Standing carefully, Tempest made her way back out of the more human occupied part of the base, making sure to watch where she placed her pedes before heading over to the more Bot occupied part.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

"Speaking"

" _Bumblebee speaking_ "

* * *

Waving at those who waved at her, Tempest was admittedly distracted when Bumblebee practically tackled her in a hug causing her to fall back.

Wincing even as her frame stiffened, having been warned that falling back on her wings would be extremely painful, Tempest waited for the inevitable crash.

However as her frame was jerked slightly, she couldn't help but grunt when they finally crashed onto the floor, all of it happening within the span of seconds.

Though this time, Bumblebee was the one who had taken the landing, his arms wrapped tight around her waist.

Smiling down at Bumblebee, Tempest thanked him warmly for taking the landing before she carefully got to her pedes, easily pulling him up before returning the hug.

Bumblebee's whistle, chirps, and trills were the same as before but Tempest still managed to understand what he was saying,

"I'm glad to see you too, Bee."

Bumblebee had admittedly been quite shocked when he had heard that Ace was now Tempest Prime and had even turned into a Cybertronian, having been human.

It had utterly floored his processors but he was glad to know that she was still the same femme that had become his best friend as Sam had done.

Happily escorting Tempest back to the med bay, Bumblebee bid her a good afternoon before heading out on patrol with Ironhide.

Having been informed that Lennox and Epps had managed to get the higher ups to track down the alt modes that Tempest had wanted, then sent a call for Ratchet.

Seeing as Tempest was more prone to longer recharge cycles to still get used to her frame, Ratchet was the one to gently jostle her online by gently rocking her frame on the berth causing her to come online with a confused expression.

"Ratchet?"

"On your pedes sweet spark. Your requested alt modes have arrived."

"Awesome!"

Lurching to her pedes, Ratchet was pleased to see that Tempest was finally moving like she should have after another month of vigorous physical therapy.

Once Tempest had her alt modes, he would be releasing her to be trained by Ironhide in getting her strength up.

Following after Tempest, Ratchet looked over the alt modes that Tempest had picked and honestly, they were some beauties.

Instructing Tempest on how to properly scan for an alt mode, Ratchet watched as she scanned over the extremely sleek looking jet before her frame shifted as it should.

The new influx of information was dizzying but she did her best to compensate, but of course, Ratchet wasn't the Chief Medical Officer without reason,

"You alright, Tempest? I'm reading some mixed signals from you."

"I'm…adjusting…"

"Alright well just take it easy. It'll be a while yet before you can even fly."

"Right."

Once her systems were settled, Tempest cautiously rolled forwards on her wheels, twisting and moving flaps along her frame, once again getting used to how everything moved and how it felt when moved.

"Alright, think you can manage a shift back to your bipedal mode?"

That was easier, seeing as she knew her bipedal mode so well.

Noting Tempest's unbalance, Ratchet moved forwards as she listed back before she grabbed carefully onto his shoulders as he wrapped his servos behind her shoulders, keeping her steady.

It was honestly insane how much work it actually was to move a Cybertronians body, coupled with the sensors they had and they had once again changed for Tempest.

Her senses were sharper now that she had an alt mode, her programming running a frag of a lot faster than she had expected and her processor was making so many connections and commands it almost made her dizzy again.

With Tempest being a Prime, Ratchet had honestly expected her to go for a vehicle much like Optimus's but instead she went for a small but obviously fragging fast car but once she had scanned it and transformed into her second new alt mode, Ratchet could admit it suited her far better than a Peterbilt would have.

Tempest took to the vehicle alt mode much easier than she had her aerial mode, even if she would be in her aerial bipedal mode when at the base. As such, Ratchet let her shoot out of the room, her engine roaring as she headed down the halls.

Bumblebee whistled at the sight of Tempest's new alt mode, it was one hell of a slick ride before he shifted into his own alt mode before the pair tore out of the base.

Tempest was more than grateful that she hadn't lost her driving skills even if she was the actual car this time instead of the driver.

The older twins whooped seeing Tempest's new alt mode racing with Bumblebee and immediately shifted into their alt modes and roared after the pair, both of them enjoying a good race.

It was not hard to see that Tempest would definitely outstrip the trio, honestly, they figured she could at least top Blurr's fastest speeds easily.

Having heard the whoops and roars of engines, Sam, Will, and Robert jogged out onto the tarmac whistling at the sight of Tempest's new alt mode.

Rumbling up beside Will and Robert, Tempest opened her doors and she could have sworn the two men squealed like children but carefully scrambled into the cab of her alt mode.

"Damn man this is gonna be so fucking fun!"

"Damn right!"

The men were quick to hook their seat belts as Sam scrambled into Bumblebee.

Tempest's alt mode shifted and rocked beneath them for a moment, causing Robert and Will to unconsciously grip the sides of the seat.

"You okay there, Tempi?"

"Adjusting to the weight."

"Right."

At the twins excited engine revs, Tempest's alt form roared forwards causing both men inside to scream.

Despite the sudden pressure against him, Will managed to laugh and choke out,

"Shiiiiiiiit!"

Tempest's laugh filled the cab as her gears shifted impeccably timed for the proper rev of her engines as she kept pace with the twins and Bumblebee.

Eventually Will grew impatient and gave Tempest a gentle tap to the steering wheel,

"Come on, Tempi. Show us what you got."

A loud roar sounded before Tempest shot forwards again, causing the two soldiers to scream yet again, nearly choking on their laughter as Tempest hit her top speed, everything looking like nothing but a blur around them.

Eventually the need to cool down caused Tempest to slow to a stop as a shaky Will and Robert leaned against her open doors, laughing as they tried to get their shaky legs to hold them.

"That was fucking amazing!"

"Damn! Girl can move!"

Once Will and Robert managed to stand, Tempest closed her doors and shifted back into her aerial bipedal mode as it handled the excess heat far better than her vehicle mode could.

Will and Robert whistled looking up at Tempest, she definitely looked like she could take a beating in the form she was in, her armor much thicker than they had seen before.

They weren't complaining though, just observing as they watched her paint go from dark blue to black to dark purple and back again with every shift or change in light.

"Wow, is this your Blackbird mode?"

"Yes."

"Lookin' good there."

"Thank you Epps."

Sam laughed as he spotted Will and Robert now sitting on the hot tarmac as they stared up at Tempest's new aerial form.

"Have a good ride guys?"

"Damn straight!"

"I didn't think anyone here was faster than Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, glad to know I was wrong."

Swaying on her pedes, Tempest waved a clawed servo at the twins, noting their actual concern as they moved forwards, both ducking under a shoulder as they wrapped an arm around her waist.

Usually Sideswipe would have tried to be funny and touch her wings to see if he could and if he did what her reaction would be.

However with her still being so new to being a Cybertronian, they both took pity on her more often than not and kept her out of their pranks.

It wouldn't be fair if they played any pranks on her because she didn't really know how to avoid them. Having them prank her would feel like they had pranked a sparkling, that and Ratchet would reconfigure them into toasters.

"Mind helping me to the mess hall? I think I'm in need of some energon."

"Of course."

"We gotcha Tempest."

Smiling at the worried looks on Sam, Will, and Robert's faces she began to stumble forwards as the twins helped her.

Lowering his servos, Bumblebee waited for the humans to climb on before he began to walk after the twins and Tempest.

Sam was admittedly worried about Sunstreaker, especially seeing as he had overheard Ratchet one day saying that the mech had sociopathic tendencies.

That and the mech was cooler than an iceberg towards everyone save for his twin brother, Optimus, Jazz, Prowl, and Ratchet.

Basically the upper ranks of the Autobots he could get along with a bit but everyone else was slagged.

"Hey Bee can you wait a minute?"

Chirping in response, Sam waited until he hoped neither of the older twins could hear him before looking up at his guardian,

"Do you think Tempest is safe with the twins?"

" _Of course. She's a Prime._ "

Granted this did little to soothe Sam's nerves, he trusted Bumblebee implicitly.

Sunstreaker had definitely talked a lot of slag when Tempest had been human, though she had never snapped at him, not once, not even when all he did was bitch and snark at her.

That little action when she had been human translated over to her Cybertronian form and had endeared her to Sunstreaker, even with his sociopathic tendencies.

He legitimately cared for both the Primes and a few other mechs he wouldn't bother to name.

Carefully settling Tempest on one of the booths, Sunstreaker went to get them energon as Sideswipe kept her company.

Filling three cubes with good mid-grade energon, Sunstreaker walked back to the table, setting his brother's energon down before he gently rubbed Tempest's back as she had leaned over the table to rest her helm on her arms.

Mumbling a soft thanks, Tempest took the offered cube, unaware that Sunstreaker was watching her for any hesitation to drink the cube he had handed her, that just wasn't the case as Tempest immediately took a swallow.

Sideswipe smirked up at Sunstreaker who had watched Tempest coolly as she had taken the cube from him, however when she had taken the first drink from the cube without an inkling of hesitation, Sunstreaker's glacial blue optics warmed a bit.

"Scoot over a bit Tempi."

Humming softly, Tempest obeyed, carefully scooting over to give Sunstreaker some room as the older pair of twins blocked her in protectively.

"Hey Ratch mech."

Hearing his best and oldest friend call for him, Ratchet turned to see Ironhide and quickly scanned him over, though he was uninjured,

"What is it Hide?"

"Quartermaster has Tempest's new quarters set up, right next to Optimus's of course. It took a bit longer than was expected to make another Prime suite. Builders are working on a few more throughout the base in case any of them are destroyed during a base attack."

"Good idea. I'll be sure to pass on the news."

"She ain't here?"

"No. She's got both her aerial and vehicular alt modes. Last I heard she was racing around the base with the older twins and Bumblebee."

"That femme sure is something."

At that Ratchet smiled, looking over at his friend warmly as Ironhide unconsciously smiled back,

"She's a Prime."

Hip cocking against a berth, Ironhide crossed his large arms over his chassis as he looked over at Ratchet,

"Wonder if Optimus will have her help with some of his paperwork."

"Well, she was instructed by the Ancient Primes on what it actually meant to be one but as for the paperwork, I believe it will be in our favor if she works on it."

"Oh?"

"She was human first, Hide. She's going to know a lot of rules. She actually read the rules and handbooks of the Base when she got here, along with all the medical data pads I had."

A sharp engine rev sounded, drawing Ratchet's attention back to Ironhide, having been checking over his tools that Wheeljack had made now that he was back in his repaired lab.

He had been forbidden to work on any experiments at all until his lab had been repaired, this time with better security and an intelligent fire suppressant system.

"She read them all? That's a lot of data pads."

"Yes but she could go through about twenty a day. Her appetite for knowledge is humbling."

"So you're still going to keep her on as an assistant?"

"Yes, I'll have to retrain her however as now she has scanners and other systems that she can check a bot over with."

"Well at least First Aid can help with that as well."

"That he can."

Sunstreaker froze as Tempest suddenly leaned against him before he looked over to find her passed smooth out in recharge.

Huffing softly, Sunstreaker rolled his optics before sliding out of the booth, pulling Tempest's frame with him before easily lifting her up into his arms.

Keeping his upper arm firmly around Tempest's mid-back, Sunstreaker was able to carry her as if she were partially sitting up in his arms, her helm resting on his shoulder.

"Shut up Sides."

"I haven't even said anything."

"I can feel that slag eating grin of yours. Stow it."

Snickering behind his servo, Sideswipe made sure to take a few images of Sunstreaker gallantly carrying the sleeping Prime back to the med bay.

Upon seeing Sunstreaker carrying Tempest, Ratchet had him set her carefully on a berth meant to keep her wings comfortable, rather than having him carry her to her new quarters.

To get in he would have to have her code that Optimus had given her not too long ago, along with a few other codes for the base and to do that he would have to pull her from recharge.

Scanning Tempest over, once the twins had left, Ratchet found that she was a little low on coolant and energon, a minor problem that he was still quick to fix.

Figuring it would be best to let her rest, Ratchet went ahead and covered her with a thick thermablanket as she had strength training with Ironhide in the morning and would spend the afternoon with Optimus.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

"Speaking"

* * *

Waking early to her internal alarm that Ratchet had told her how to set, Tempest folded up the thermablanket, setting it at the foot of the berth before she headed to the mess hall, getting her energon for the day.

Spotting Tempest in the corner nursing an energon cube, Ironhide joined her, glad to see that she could actually get up early.

Once their energon was gone, Ironhide led Tempest down to the practice rooms and leapt helm first into her training.

Needless to say, Ironhide was a fragging tyrant when it came to training, but still, Tempest never complained as she figured that a lot of the recruits that Ironhide had trained were either still alive or dead.

It was the dead ones that most likely drove him to be so hard in his training but by the time it was through, Tempest was aching everywhere she figured a bot could ache.

Optimus shuttered his optics in a blink as Tempest walked through the office door with a groan, gingerly walking over to his side of the desk before she sat down in the chair that had been placed for her.

"Are you well, Tempest?"

"I'm fine big guy. This is all courtesy of Ironhide's strength training."

At that, Optimus chuckled, he knew quite well how hard Ironhide could be on those he had offered to train.

"Are you ready to look over all of this?"

At that, Tempest perked up, she loved to learn new things, the more she learned the better and as if noting her excitement, Optimus chuckled once more and began to explain all of the paperwork or rather data pads that came with the job.

Learning Autobot rules, regulations, and codes so quickly that Optimus couldn't keep the proud yet self-doubting smile off of his face.

But Tempest had a knack for reading nuances on a Cybertronian's face and looked up at him with a warm smile,

"You make this really simple to learn."

Smiling back just as warmly now, Optimus chuckled,

"Eons of practice."

"Well you've certainly learned the tricks of the trade. I've never been able to memorize so much info at one time."

"Well you do have a processor now."

"That's true. But still."

It wasn't often that Optimus's self-doubt reared its ugly helm, but by now Tempest could read Optimus well enough to cut it off before he could really work himself into a fit.

It honestly took less time for Tempest to be actively helping Optimus with the paperwork than it did for her to master Ironhide's training.

Ironhide's chassis swelled with pride as he continued to train Tempest, no matter how hard he pushed the femme, she continued to rise to his expectations or shatter them completely.

With her frame she held a very deceptive strength and learned fighting styles quickly.

Ironhide relied on his cannons and the always handy smash and bash but hey, he was a very old soldier and frontliner.

He was also a very heavy hitter but Tempest had an extreme amount of grace and power in whatever she did, which made it a bit easier for him to chose weapons for her and begin to train her in those.

She proved to be one fragging good sniper even though she had never touched a gun in her human life, he wasn't complaining.

She was also showing promise in servo to servo combat and her kicks were nothing to laugh at.

Despite the exhaustion of working with Optimus in the mornings, Ironhide in the afternoons, and learning how to be a Spec Ops from Jazz in the evenings, Tempest was exhilarated.

She was finally doing something productive to help the Autobot cause rather than lying in the med bay taking up space.

Granted Ratchet had agreed to teach her again on how to be a medic after she finished Ironhide's training.

Which according to Ironhide would take another month, having been at it for nearly a year now, seriously, if she wasn't training or helping Optimus, she was hanging out with the other bots and getting to know all of them.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

"Speaking"

* * *

Mirage had been informed that there was a new Prime that was on Earth but he hadn't honestly expected it to be a femme or one so fragging beautiful.

He had been a Tower mech, Mirage had seen many a beautiful mech and femme but this femme blew them all out of the water.

Standing next to Optimus however, he noted how her color scheme played so well with Optimus's drawing attention to them both without one overshadowing the other.

Mirage's optics narrowed slightly as he noted Sunstreaker gently tap his digits to the back of the femme Prime's arm before Sunstreaker murmured something that had her smiling softly.

If he hadn't known that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were already spark mates despite being sparked twins, he would have thought that Sunstreaker and the femme were spark mates.

Given the casual way he had touched her after all, but that was none of his business as he moved forwards to greet the Primes.

Like Optimus's voice, the femme Prime's voice was warm though the power of the Voice of the Primes was easily heard subdued in her voice.

Having the faster ship, Mirage had arrived a month ahead of the Wreckers and their ship, not that it was a surprise as Mirage favored things that suited him and a fast ship happened to be one of them.

A genuine smile lit Mirage's face as he spotted his spark mate, Hound rushing towards him, holding out his arms before Hound slammed into him.

"Ouch! Hey, take it easy you big lug!"

"I'm sorry. I've missed you."

Smiling, Tempest gently nudged Optimus who smiled over at her as well before they headed back inside to give the two spark mates a chance to visit without watchful optics on them.

The thing that had been most difficult to figure out was the concept of spark mates and bond mates to Tempest, she had gotten a slight idea as to what it was, at least enough that she wouldn't make a fool of herself if it was brought up in conversation.

Having finally finished her strength training with Ironhide, Tempest was once more working with Ratchet and continuing to work with both Optimus and Jazz.

Granted Jazz had installed a slag ton of codes to her processors upgrading her stealth and dampeners, along with specialized firewalls to protect her processors and any information on said processors.

Really, he had practically revamped her internal systems, not that Tempest had minded and she had trusted Jazz enough to go into medical stasis to allow him to do the upgrades.

As it was now, despite her size she could move in absolute silence and often let Sam rope her into scaring the slag out of some of the human recruits when they had bragged that they were quieter than any robot.

When a thirty foot tall Tempest suddenly dropped down amongst them, scaring the piss out of them, they had been real quick to change their tune.

Jazz had also added a rapid reboot coding so she could come online fully alert at any sign of danger, as well as fine tuning her scanners and external sensors to notice when someone was close to her.

Now, not even Jazz could sneak up on her due to the absolute control she exerted over her frame, granted she was still grounded as she had no idea how to actually fly her aerial alt form.

That and Ratchet had expressly forbidden her from it, much to her frustration, at least until they could get an interstellar at the base. Of course, Optimus had sensed her discontent and had actually begun to spar with her and she was definitely glad for Ironhide's insane strength training.

Optimus was absolutely no pushover and was an old player when it came to war and strategic thinking on the fly.

It took almost every bit of speed Tempest could slam out to keep Optimus from completely laying her flat, however the longer she sparred with him, the stronger and faster she got.

Now they were both almost equal in being put on the defensive when at first Tempest could only defend herself from Optimus's blows.

With her continuing her training with Jazz, as well as learning Cybertronian anatomy with Ratchet, Tempest was getting faster and hitting weaker spots harder.

As such, Optimus couldn't help the pained yell that escaped his vocalizer as Tempest's pede slammed hard into his knee joint, nearly crippling it but in the next instant, Tempest was at his side, helping him to sit back on the ground, having caught him as he collapsed.

"You have been learning very well."

"I've had a lot of teachers and I'm always willing to learn something new. Now, let me take a look at that knee joint."

Checking to make sure she hadn't truly done any permanent damage, Tempest's claw easily slipped into the joint, decompressing some of the wires, causing Optimus to vent a sigh of relief.

Cradling Tempest's face in his servos, it was Optimus's guilty pleasure that she allowed him to touch her in such a way.

It was a dark secret that he kept as he didn't tell her just how intimate a gesture it was to touch another Cybertronian's face and despite the guilt that ate at his spark, he just couldn't tell her for fear that she would reject his affections.

As such, it was something he only did whenever they were alone, granted Tempest never returned or initiated the gesture, she never rejected it either.

With her having been human first it was difficult to figure out how to ask if he could be allowed to court her.

Jazz had of course noticed his attraction to Tempest who was almost frustratingly oblivious and had urged him to simply tell her.

"Tempest?"

"Hm?"

Pausing in straightening the wires around Optimus's knee joint after he had released her, Tempest looked up at Optimus, giving him her full attention.

"Would you allow me to court you?"

"Huh?"

Panic bit hard as Optimus cursed his traitorous vocalizer as Tempest's optics dimmed slightly, unaware that she was accessing the information from the Allspark itself as to what it meant to be courted by a Prime.

A smile split Tempest's face before she lunged forwards, wrapping her arms around Optimus's shoulders as he fell back, unconsciously wrapping an arm around Tempest's waist.

"Of course I will!"

It took a moment to process that Tempest had agreed before Optimus's other arm came up, wrapping tight around Tempest's torso hugging her against him.

Of course it didn't take the others long to realize that Tempest and Optimus were now courting and Jazz had thrown a big aft party to celebrate.

Shifting into her vehicular bipedal mode knocked quite a bit of height off of Tempest's frame but it allowed her to dance with Jazz and honestly they were all having a blast.

However it wasn't long before just Tempest and Jazz shared the dance floor as they began to dance a personalized version of the tango. No where near as sensual but more fun with the more sensual moments toned down a bit.

Everyone whistled when Jazz shifted, bending his knee joint slightly allowing Tempest to wrap her leg over it and hold her weight there as she lifted her free leg directly in the air, her pede being above both of their helms as Jazz laughed.

"You haven't lost yer edge, Sis. Still muh best dancing partner."

Smiling, Tempest slid from Jazz's thigh before he twirled her and they continued to dance before they separated, grabbing different partners.

Much to everyone's shock, Ratchet could dance and dance well, taking the lead as Tempest followed him, laughing as she did so and even the usually pissy medic was laughing.

How Tempest managed to dance with the two older twins was beyond them but no one was asking questions and no one dared to butt in as Sunstreaker actually had a small smile on his face.

Yawning tiredly, having partied and danced most of the night, Tempest headed back to her quarters to get some recharge in, hopefully Ironhide would have some pity on her or be tired from the party himself to push the training back a bit.

Still, Tempest made sure to set her internal alarm for the usual time and rested on the plush berth and pulled the thick thermablanket up to her shoulders before dropping off into recharge.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

"Speaking"

* * *

In the pre-dawn hours, Tempest was jolted online to a comm from Red Alert informing her that the Wrecker ship was going to be entering atmosphere soon.

Shifting back into her aerial bipedal mode, Tempest jumped into the wash racks for a quick wash off, using her own engines to dry herself.

Walking out of her quarters, Tempest spotted Optimus waiting for her and smiled over at him before he held out a servo and she took it, curling her claws carefully over the back of his servo.

Groaning softly, Jazz leaned against Prowl's side as his spark mate helped to steady him and allowed him to focus on putting one pede in front of the other.

"Fragging Wreckers. Course they'd be poppin' up at ah crazy hour."

Joining up with the other grumbling and exhausted higher ups, Jazz smiled over at Optimus and Tempest, neither one of them grumbled or complained but it was obvious both were exhausted.

Ratchet of course fussed a bit over the Primes but both of them had smiled at him as the Wrecker's ship was carefully landed.

Rodimus smiled as he exited the ship, immediately spotting Optimus Prime, as well as a femme who was a mere foot shorter than him standing directly at his side.

"Welcome to Earth, Rodimus. How have you and the Wreckers fared?"

"Thanks for the welcome party, Prime. We fare how we always do. A lot of wrecking and a lot of ruling."

"This is good news."

Tempest smirked as one of the mechs with a single optic began to circle her, having let go of Optimus's servo and stood a bit further to the side.

Standing at calm attention, Tempest vaguely heard Jazz chuckle and murmur so softly even her finely tuned audios barely caught it,

"He bettah watch 'imself. If he tries something as funny as ah intimidation attack she'll wipe dah floor with 'im."

Sensing a sudden rush of movement behind her, it was obvious what the mech was doing and in an instant, Tempest had merely twisted out of the way, her pede slamming hard into the much smaller and lighter mech's back sending him flying.

Whirl cursed as he was thrown helm over pedes, he had the drop on the femme, he knew he had but she had twisted from him so effortlessly it was like she had practiced it.

The kick that had landed on his back had been firm but carefully held back to keep from completely crushing his spinal struts.

Whoever the femme was, she was not to be messed with.

Jazz guffawed at the sight of Whirl tangled in a heap at the entrance of the ship once more before he moved up to Tempest's side,

"Wha'd ya expect, Whirl? Ah been trainin' this femme 'ere as ah Infiltrator fer nearly two years now. She can outstrip meh an' tha's sayin' something."

"Stow your flapping trap, Jazz!"

"Ah naw, ya don' get tah come down 'ere tah Earth actin' like ah big shot just cause ah the slag ya did in space. We'll wipe dah floor wit' ya 'ere."

Drift studied the femme who was warmly greeting Springer and Kup and admittedly, the femme was a work of art with no weaknesses or openings that he could see.

As an ex-Decepticon that was saying something as it was always habit to search for a weakness and it had been a long time since he found one that could hide them from him.

Optimus smirked as he moved to stand closer to Tempest, causing her to look up at him and smile before turning her attention back to the Wreckers.

"Wreckers, allow me to introduce, my courted, Tempest Prime."

"Tempest Prime?!"

As one various yells sounded in surprise as not only was the femme that Whirl had attacked been a Prime, she was also Optimus Prime's courted.

Whirl cursed, he was in seriously deep slag, having just attacked a Prime and Optimus Prime's courted, she could honestly remove his helm from his shoulders should she choose to.

However, she merely smirked at the surprise on the Wreckers' faces and seeing as they didn't have anyone rushing forwards to greet them, she looked over at Optimus who chuckled and nodded,

"Alright, all of you gather round. I'm only going to do this once and whether you like it or not, you're getting a hug from me."

Blurr rushed forwards in excitement, holding his arms up to the much taller Prime who immediately wrapped her arms around him, pulling his frame comfortably against her own in the most perfect hug Blurr had ever been graced with.

Tailgate was next, followed closely by Cyclonus, and Rodimus had happily rushed up to hug Tempest, venting a sigh as his frame relaxed against her own before she gently released him and held out her arms once more.

Springer and Kup both wrapped an arm around her waist as she wrapped her arms around their shoulders, both grumbling softly as it was a bit uncomfortable for them.

However once they felt the warmth from her frame, they relaxed a bit before clearing their vocals and backing up to allow the others to get in on the hug.

Roadbuster happily hugged Tempest, being extra careful of her sensitive wings, feeling the very gentle prick of claws against his armor.

All Tempest would have to do would be to put just a little bit of pressure into those claws and she could tear through his near six inch thick armor no problem.

However, he wasn't concerned and eventually released her, having realized he had been holding onto her for quite some time.

She hadn't fussed however, merely let him hang on to her for as long as he had needed and honestly, it had felt quite nice.

Drift and Perceptor were next and Tempest enfolded them in the same hug that she had given the others as if it didn't matter that Drift was an ex-Decepticon and Perceptor had changed himself so much that most mechs had claimed that he had defiled himself.

Due to this, the pair hugged her even tighter, hearing her engines rumble gently as her arms tightened around them as well.

Noting Drift's claws digging into Tempest's armor, Jazz gently tapped his digits as Tempest gave no other sign that he had done so.

Feeling a gentle pat to his digits, Drift gentled his grip before they eventually released Tempest and while Drift was concerned at the energon on his clawed servo, Tempest merely wiped it from his claws and pat his shoulder.

Whirl had bitched and complained but still walked over to Tempest, holding his arms open before she chuckled and hugged him just as she had hugged the others causing him to shutter his optic in a blink for a moment.

Lunging up, Whirl wrapped his arms around Tempest's shoulders, feeling her servo press gently against his back as his frame was quite slight compared to hers before he released her.

Noting how stiff Ultra Magnus was, Tempest walked forwards,

"Open your arms like this."

Mimicking Tempest, Ultra Magnus obeyed before she stepped forwards, wrapping her arms around his torso as he was the exact same height as Optimus, save his smokestacks were bigger.

Mimicking Tempest once more, Ultra Magnus wrapped his arms around Tempest's lower back and unconsciously dropped his helm onto her shoulder before she gently pat his neck cables.

After a couple of minutes, Ultra Magnus released her and she stepped back over to Optimus's side as the others chuckled at the slightly dazed expressions that the Wreckers wore.

Having been inside checking over the communication signals, Blaster was the last one off the ship but he had quickly gotten his hug as well before she released him.

"Welcome to Earth. All of you. There's energon in the mess hall. Be careful not to step on any of the humans here. Always watch your step and treat the humans with respect as this is their planet and we are the visitors."  
"Aye, sir."

"Once you slag heaps have had your energon, you come to my med bay for your check ups. Tempest, you willing to assist me?"

"Sure Ratchet."

Rodimus whistled softly, not only was Tempest a Prime, apparently she was also a slagging good Infiltrator, and on top of that an accomplished medic, if Ratchet was calling for her assistance.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

"Speaking"

{ _Comm link speaking_ }

* * *

After his checkup, Rodimus could conclude that she was very thorough too, she hadn't missed anything on his frame, not even the minor problems he had tried to hide.

She dealt with them just as efficiently as Ratchet did before shooing him out of the med bay to have him talk to Jazz about quarters in the Spec Ops section of the base.

Most would have expected the Primes to be closer to the most well armored area of the base, however that just simply wasn't how it was.

They held quarters a mere hall over from the Spec Ops and while it may not have been as heavily fortified, they were still in the most protected area of the inner base.

The Wreckers settled as best they could and were more than happy to tell old war stories for all those willing to listen.

Though quite a few of them had to admit that some of the humans had some really good ones too, especially for creatures their size, really they were only a bit smaller than sparklings.

Due to this as well as the Wreckers trying to fit into base life once more, Tempest was able to hide her unrest.

Shivers danced down Tempest's spinal plating and honestly her wings were starting to itch, she couldn't even go outside anymore without the itch becoming unbearable unless it was absolutely necessary.

Drift paused hearing a shriek on metal having been heading to meet Perceptor in the mess hall for energon.

Looking outside, Drift's optics went wide in horror seeing Tempest's extremely sharp claws nearly shredding her wings and immediately rushed forwards, calling for Perceptor in a panic.

Drift tackled Tempest onto her back struggling to pin down one arm and pull the other clawed servo from her wings without further damage.

Perceptor hauled aft around the corner, seeing Drift struggling to pin Tempest down as she continued to claw at her wing, both wings were badly shredded and dripping energon onto the tarmac.

"Slag!"

Slamming into Tempest's other arm, Perceptor forced it flat on the ground as Tempest's frame bucked, trying to knock them off,

"What in the frag are you doing?!"

"It itches!"

"Slag! Slag! Slag! Tempest stop!"

Drift grunted as Tempest's arm came up trying to claw at her wing once more before he forced it back down, slagging Primes and their insane strength.

He could still tell that she was trying to hold back, so it wasn't a virus that had attacked her processors, honestly, he had no idea what was wrong with her.

{ _Drift to Jazz. Come in Jazz_.}

{ _Jazz 'ere. Wha's up mech?_ }

{ _I need you on the tarmac with stasis cuffs now! Tempest is trying to claw her wings open!_ }

{ _Ah'll be there in ah click!_ }

After sending a message off to Ratchet, informing him of Tempest's unknown injuries, Jazz shot off down the hall calling for Optimus as he went.

Sliding on his pede around the corner, Jazz's optics went wide behind his visor at the sorry state Tempest's wings were in as she struggled against Drift and Perceptor, though not as hard as she could have.

Rushing forwards, Jazz hooked the stasis cuff around Tempest's wrist joint before her arm went limp and it took all three of them to force her other arm closer to latch the stasis cuff on her other wrist joint before her arms went limp.

Whining softly, Tempest shuddered beneath the three mechs before Optimus rushed around the corner and moved forwards as Jazz, Perceptor, and Drift moved to allow him to scoop Tempest up into his arms.

As Optimus rushed Tempest to the med bay, Jazz looked over at Drift and Perceptor,

"Wha' dah frag was tha' all about?!"

"I don't know. I heard her clawing her wing and came out to see her doing it and tackled her. I called Perceptor for backup and then called you. She wasn't trying to hurt us at all, just claw at her wing. She said it itched."

"Slag! Ah bet she's getting ah touch ah Sky Madness."

"What?"

"When fliers ah any kind 're grounded fer tah long, they start goin' ah bit nuts. Ah gotta go tell Ratchet. Thanks fer stopping her from really hurtin' 'erself."

"Not a problem, Jazz."

Ratchet was definitely not pleased as he ranted, cursed, and snarled before beginning to repair Tempest's wings, having been forced to actually strap her down and sedate her to do so.

He wouldn't admit it but he was definitely worried about the fact that Tempest had just clawed open the most sensitive part of her frame without even a twinge of pain.

Running his scans over her he could tell that all of her pain receptors were online but even that hadn't stopped her from turning her claws onto herself and he didn't believe that she would harm herself on purpose.

At the sight of Jazz in his med bay, Ratchet damn near threw a wrench at him but Jazz held up his servos in a no nonsense gesture, staying his servo.

"What the frag is it?! Can't you see I'm busy?!"

"Ah think she's getting Sky Madness, Ratch."

"Sky…Madness?"

There was a plausible explanation and one Ratchet cursed himself for, he had been the one to ground Tempest, never letting her try out her wings.

She had lasted longer than most would have but she hadn't been born an Interstellar which had probably been her saving grace in the two years she had been actively mobile.

"Slagging, aft-helmed glitch of a pit spawn! Do we have any fliers at all?!"

"Cyclonus."

"Get him here, Jazz. I'll continue Tempest's repairs."

"Sure thin' Ratchet."

{ _Jazz to Cyclonus._ }

{ _Good evening, Jazz_.}

{ _Evenin' mech. Ah need ya tah come down tah dah med bay._ }

{ _Certainly._ }

Turning back to Ratchet who had gone back to work, delicately repairing Tempest's shredded wings,

"He's on 'is way."

"Good!"

Rather than say anything else, Jazz moved further to the side of the med bay, a bit out of range for Ratchet's wrenches should he lose his temper and let them fly.

Within minutes Cyclonus had entered the med bay with Tailgate sitting on his shoulder, their optics going wide at the state Tempest was in.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"She'll be fine. Ratch is dah best."

"What did you need me for, Jazz?"

"Tempest is getting a touch of Sky Madness. She's been 'ere two years an' don' know how tah fly. Can ya teach 'er?"

"Absolutely. Had I known I would have offered my assistance earlier."

"None ah us knew."  
"Will she be repaired enough to go for a flight tomorrow, Ratchet?"

"I'll get her repaired. Now all of you, out of my fragging med bay so I can work!"

With that the trio were quick to get out of the med bay and not long after them Optimus walked out, rubbing the back of his helm where Ratchet had thwacked him with his wrench.

It was nowhere near as hard as it could have been but it was still painful and the only way that Ratchet could get him to leave.

It took Ratchet most of the night to actually fully repair Tempest's wings with how many sensors and wires were in the wings themselves. Ratchet couldn't complain though, it was his fault that Tempest was in the state that she was, he should have had human pilots give her at least flight diagnostics. Instead, his dumb aft had completely grounded her, even when she mostly stayed in her aerial form rather than her vehicular form.

Tempest may not have felt the pain of tearing into her wings before but she definitely felt it now and honestly it felt like her wings had been set on fire, causing her to cry out.

First Aid yelped as Tempest ripped through one of the restraints before Ratchet hauled aft into the med bay, having been getting a couple hours of recharge in. Grabbing Tempest's servo, Ratchet forced her to pay attention to him, gripping her servo hard with his own,

"Hey, hey, look at me sweet spark!"

Shuddering, Tempest obeyed before Ratchet held out his servo and First Aid quickly shoved a syringe into it before he injected it into Tempest's neck cable.

"I'm sorry it hurt sweet spark but I had to make sure everything was in working order and if you can feel pain it meant I did my job right. Understand?"

"Y-Yes Ratchet."

"Now that pain's gonna fade in a bit but you're going to lay right here until it is. Aid, get her an energon cube and give Cyclonus a call."

"Yes Ratchet."

After First Aid had scurried off, Ratchet vented a sigh as he looked down at Tempest,

"I'm sorry sweet spark. I didn't even think that you would be affected by Sky Madness."

"Sky Madness?"

"Fliers can go insane if they are not allowed to fly and I kept you grounded for two years."

"It's fine, Ratchet."

"The nine Terran hours that I worked to repair the damage done to your wings from your claws says otherwise. Now, as Cyclonus is a flier he's going to teach you how to fly properly."

"Okay."

Releasing Tempest's servo, Ratchet began to unstrap her from the restraints before having the berth lean up so she was sitting up as First Aid walked over with an energon cube.

Drinking some of the energon in the cube, Tempest sat up fully on the berth, her frame was a bit stiff but nothing she couldn't work out on her own by getting moving about.

Having received the call, Cyclonus walked into the med bay to see Tempest sitting up on the berth, drinking a energon cube but seeing him she finished the last swallow and followed after him until they were on the tarmac.

"Can you shift into your alt mode?"

"Yes."

Cyclonus watched as Tempest shifted and he would admit, she had one very nice alt mode, however he began to go over flight diagnostics and instructions.

Despite being a Prime, Tempest listened well and obeyed his instructions without complaint and soon, both were in their alt modes, slowly cruising the skies.

Tempest was definitely having the time of her life and that incessant itch and shudders going down her spinal plates had finally subsided.

"Wh-Whoa!"

A sudden change in the wind direction had Tempest's wing tipping a bit further than she should have, but Cyclonus easily slid up beside her, his wing straightening hers.

"Th-Thanks."

"You've done quite well."

"Yeah well I still have to land and I'm pretty sure I'm going to land on my face plates."

"You'll learn and I'll take you up into the sky every day until you can out fly me."

"Thanks Cyclonus. I really appreciate it."

Curiously enough, Cyclonus believed her, even though he had been a Decepticon, Tempest trusted him as if he had always been an Autobot and spoke to him with genuine warmth that helped to warm his icy spark.

Needless to say, getting into the air was a lot more easy than landing and while Tempest landed a little too hard and had nearly flipped over in her alt form, she had managed to right herself in time to keep from crashing.

Having seen Tempest practicing her flying, Optimus had walked out to greet them when Tempest had come down to land.

Tempest's face was practically glowing with delight as she rushed forwards, wrapping her arms around Optimus's shoulders as he smiled, hugging her back as she laughed,

"Did you see me?! I actually flew!"

"I did. You did well."

Giggling, Tempest buried her face against Optimus's neck cables before releasing him to grip onto his servo and gently pull him inside.

Chuckling at Tempest's excitement, Optimus followed at a calmer pace, noting that they were heading to the mess hall.

{ _Tempest to my darling brother Jazz_.}

Jazz's laugh sounded warmly over the comms even as he responded back,

{ _Jazz tah muh sweet sparked sister. Wha' ya need sweet spark?_ }

{ _Do you want me to drag Prowl to the mess hall?_ }

{ _If ya wouldn' mind_.}

{ _Of course not. I'll sweep by and pick him up_.}

{ _Thanks sweet spark._ }

{ _Never a problem._ }

Altering her course, Tempest knocked on Prowl's door, hearing his call for her to enter before she walked inside, ignoring as Prowl suddenly stood and saluted them both.

"Oh come on. None of that. You're practically my brother-in-law. Anyways, come on. Jazz says you need energon."

"Tempest I'm perfectly-"

"If you say fine, I might bite you."

Prowl's processors sputtered a bit in confusion before Tempest grabbed his wrist joint and pulled him after her, still keeping hold of Optimus's servo.

"It would be best to do as she says, Prowl."

"Uh, yes sir."

Walking into the mess hall, Tempest motioned for Optimus and Prowl to find a seat as she went and got them all a cube of energon.

Noting Sunstreaker's distant expression as well as the fact that Sideswipe wasn't at his side, Tempest nudged him with her hip, snapping him out of whatever daze he had been in, merely smiling at his glare. However, those who watched were in awe as Sunstreaker's icy glare melted and a small smile curled his lips,

"You alright Sunstreaker?"

"Yeah. Just on a different patrol from Sideswipe is all. It's odd."

"Want to come sit with me?"

"Sure."

Grabbing his own cube of energon, Sunstreaker followed Tempest back to the table where Optimus and Prowl sat, sitting next to Tempest as she passed out the energon cubes.

Had anyone other than a very select few done what Tempest had done, he would have sent them to the med bay and probably been in the brig for a week.

As it was, he sat beside Tempest, his systems calming as he sat next to her, listening to her as she excitedly told them of her first ever flight.

Which reminded him, when Sideswipe and him were put on the same patrols again, he would see if Sideswipe wasn't willing to teach Tempest how to avoid what they called Jet Judo.

Climbing up onto the table, Sam greeted the bots, making a beeline for Tempest who greeted him warmly.

Optimus nearly jumped out of his armor as Tempest's pedes wrapped behind his ankle joint, even though she had yet to tear her attention away from Sam who was telling her about his day.

Calming quickly, Optimus still had to feign clearing his vents to hide the pleasured rumble of his engine.

Of course she would know the sensitive spots on his frame as she had access to all of his medical files but he did have more intimate experience than she did.

Not that he would ever push her to a pace she wasn't comfortable with.

Still, he enjoyed the contact as it was the first time that Tempest had initiated something other than a hug and that thought alone warmed his spark.

When Tempest had drank all of her energon she gently nudged Sunstreaker who moved before she scooped Sam up into her servo, dropping him off with Bumblebee.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

"Speaking"

* * *

As Jazz was off on a mission, her Infiltrator and Spec Ops training was on hold, she had managed to get both Perceptor and Drift to teach her their own fighting styles.

Granted Drift excelled at servo to servo combat and he used actual swords as his main weapons and Tempest was beginning to learn the art of sword fighting.

Greeting Drift and Perceptor warmly, Tempest paused as pain exploded in her mouth, wondering what the frag that was all about as she quickly scanned her mouth finding nothing wrong.

Watching closely as Perceptor greeted her, Tempest distractedly mumbled her greeting as well before she noted energon very slightly staining Drift's lips.

Drift grunted as Tempest tackled him so quickly he had no chance to even defend himself, rather he stared up at her in shock as Perceptor looked on in shock as well.

"Open your mouth."

"Tempest?"

"I said open it!"

Drift's mouth obediently dropped open before Tempest looked over his denta before an energon stopping growl rumbled from her throat, the claws on the servo that rested on his chassis flexing slightly, scratching the first layer of paint.

"You filed your fangs?!"

"I-"

"They grow back! Do you do this every time?!"

"It made the others more comfortable."

Hissing, Tempest focused on healing Drift's filed down fangs unaware when her energon lines lit with a golden glow that transferred to Drift's mouth.

Feeling a slight pressure where his fangs had been, Drift shifted slightly before Tempest sat back, straddling his waist fully now,

"Don't you dare file those fangs again!"

"But it will make others uncomfortable."

"Do I look like I fragging care if the others are uncomfortable or not?! You're not the only one with fangs and mine happen to be bigger than yours!"

Baring her denta, Drift was finally able to see the large fangs that were housed in her mouth, wondering how he had never noticed them before.

Snorting at Drift's surprised expression, Tempest stood, pulling Drift to his pedes before she cradled his chin, looking over his newly formed fangs before she nodded,

"Much better. Now I want you both to listen to me."

At Tempest's no nonsense tone, both gave her their full attention as Perceptor moved up beside Drift,

"I don't give a frag if you were a former Decepticon or not. I don't care if you changed your entire frame and upgraded everything you could think of on your frame. You are still Drift and Perceptor and you are valued Autobot members. Don't let anyone make you doubt yourselves."

"Yes Prime."

Nodding to herself, Tempest released Drift only to have Drift and Perceptor nearly tackle her onto her back in a hug but once more she enfolded them into her arms.

Eventually the pair pulled away from her before Drift began to instruct her on the actual sword fights, having been teaching her how to care for the sword.

By the time Tempest left, her arm's tension cables were shaking and ached, though she didn't complain, she really never did when it came to learning something new.

That and having been trained by Ironhide she knew that the ache was just her exercising previously unused cables.

In the end it would just make her stronger and that was all she was looking for as the Decepticons had been worrying silent for nearly a month which was why Jazz had been sent back into the field.

Heading to the now empty mess hall, Tempest got herself a cube and quickly downed it, though she was unaware when she rested her arms on the table and rested her helm on top of them as she slid into recharge.

Optimus groaned softly as he came online, having received a hail from Red Alert but after being informed that Tempest was recharging in the mess hall, Optimus stood and headed to the mess hall.

Shaking his helm with a fond smile, Optimus moved forwards, noting Sunstreaker standing completely encased in the shadows as he gently maneuvered Tempest up into his arms.

"Thank you for staying guard, Sunstreaker."

Optimus of course didn't expect a response and wasn't given one as Sunstreaker merely walked past him.

Carrying Tempest down the dim halls, Optimus's engines rumbled softly, glad that he wasn't stopped by anyone randomly roaming the halls and managed to reach Tempest's quarters, sending his own code to the door before the lock turned green and the door opened.

Tempest's quarters were surprisingly bare, honestly there was nothing in her quarters but the things that had come with the room.

There was nothing there to personalize it.

It also made Optimus realize that she didn't really have anything to decorate it with and he would definitely be changing that.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

"Speaking

* * *

Jazz sighed as he spotted the Autobot base as he continued to limp forwards, he had managed to knock out a forming Decepticon base but not before one of the fraggers had managed to dig their claws into his leg.

Hearing the rev of an engine, Jazz looked over to see Tempest walking towards him and smiled over at her,

"Hey there sweet spark."

"You okay Jazz?"

"Course."

Snorting softly, Tempest stepped forwards and easily scooped Jazz into her arms and honestly he was too slagging exhausted to protest.

Knowing that he was just as safe in Tempest's arms as he was in Optimus and Prowl's, Jazz slid into recharge, his helm resting against her chassis.

Cradling Jazz to her chassis, Tempest headed directly to the med bay, slipping the reboot inhibitor over Jazz's helm so that he would stay in recharge rather than come online due to his rapid reboot coding.

Seeing as the damage wasn't life threatening, Ratchet had Tempest patch him up as he continued to go through his inventory.

Repairing the torn and cut wires was tedious but was good practice for Tempest as she continued to work, sending a comm for Prowl to come to the med bay.

Walking into the med bay, Prowl was relieved to see Jazz was sitting up on the berth, an energon cube in his servo as he happily joked with Tempest before she spotted him and nudged Jazz whose face lit up at the sight of him waiting at the door.

"Prowler!"

"He's free to go, Prowl."

"Thank you, Tempest. Come on, Jazz."

"Sure thing!"

Hopping off the berth, Jazz slammed the rest of the energon down before Tempest took the now empty cube and rushed after Prowl.

"Debriefing tomorrow, Jazz."

"You got it sweet spark!"

Submitting the medical file, Tempest waved to Ratchet before heading off to Optimus's office, seeing as they shared it

Despite having listened to the human dignitaries most of the morning, Optimus's expression still brightened as Tempest walked into the room.

"Jazz has returned. A little bit of damage to his leg but it's been repaired. I told him we'll debrief him tomorrow."

"That will be fine."

Settling in her chair, Tempest began to assist Optimus in more paperwork and honestly he was glad for the assistance as there was always quite a bit to go over.

Granted there were some things that she still didn't understand but she had no problem in asking for his assistance, which he was all to happy to give.

Eventually the paperwork lulled enough for Optimus to actually ask her a few questions about how she was faring,

"I'm doing good, Optimus. I'm still trying to adjust to everything but all in all I think I'm doing alright."

"You have indeed adjusted quickly."

"Well as a human I followed the double A rule."

"Double A rule?"

"Adopt and adapt. Humans are a very hardy species even if they're much younger and they can adopt almost any mannerism as they are excellent mimics. They can adapt to anything as well, I mean we're here aren't we?"

"Very true."

It was indeed humbling and at times, Optimus could honestly forget that in Cybertronian terms, Tempest was but a newly sparked sparkling, yet due to the Allspark she carried as much wisdom as he did.

It was also why he was taking the courtship so slowly, so as to allow her to adjust to everything herself first and allow her to get used to a touch more intimate touches rather than push her into something she wasn't ready for.

Optimus was an ancient mech, even by Cybertronian standards, having been alive during the Golden Age of Cybertron.

Few reached his age anymore without being offlined in a war that he just wanted to finally end one way or another.

Being around Tempest and her almost sparkling-like wonder to everything was honestly so refreshing and helped him to forget if for but a moment that they were still at war and his brother and former spark mate Megatron, was lying offline in the Mariana Trench.

Whether she knew it or not, she helped to ease the ache in his spark and made dealing with some of the higher up humans on the planet, a little more bearable.

Especially when the humans could be unmitigated afts.

He was no fool, he was a Warrior and had been a leader for far longer than the humans could fathom and it honestly rankled him at times to be treated like a thing or a sparkling.

Though he understood that humans had been the superior species for as long as they could remember and it was humbling to see that they had turned out very much like the Cybertronians had long ago.

So he kept his thoughts to himself and merely let them treat him how they wished. As long as they did not cause harm to any of those he considered under his command, he would deal.

It was simple politics after all and a lot of the humans were men and from what he had researched on the world wide web, they could at times try to be intimidating or just plain afts because they themselves were intimidated by the one before them.

Of course at times the femmes weren't much better but they could at least be gently persuaded to listen to reason more often than not.

Optimus's engines revved in shock as Tempest's frame suddenly straddled his lap, her legs bent over the arms of the chair as she leaned her weight slightly against her forearms that leaned back against the desk.

"Wh-What?"

"I think that's the first time I've ever heard you stutter there big guy. I was calling your designation for seven minutes with no response. You kind of worried me so I figured I would shock you out of it."

"It definitely worked."

"Hm, I thought it would."

Grabbing hold of the back of the seat brought Tempest's chassis directly against Optimus's as she shifted her balance to where she could rotate her hip joints and put her pedes on the ground once more.

Optimus's servos twitched at his restraint, wanting so desperately to caress Tempest's smooth chassis but that was one of the far more intimate gestures and she was still getting used to him gently petting her face or cradling it in his servos.

He wouldn't dare do something so forward, even if she wasn't sure what it meant and allowed her to sit back down in her chair.

"I finished the rest of the paperwork while you were off in your processors."

"Oh, thank you."

"Not a problem. Some of them I will be sending back because they very cleverly tried to get access to the weapons and technology we have and that's definitely a no go. Humans are greedy by nature and are always wanting to learn and try to find out everything and anything, even if we aren't ready for it. The weapons we have, they are definitely not ready for."

"That is true."

Smirking, Tempest sat back down in her chair, deciding to spend a bit more time with Optimus rather than head directly to training with Perceptor that evening and it wasn't like they hadn't finished their paperwork early.

Figuring that Optimus really didn't understand just how much information the Allspark gave her, Tempest kept quiet in her understanding of his partially intimate gestures.

She was ever so grateful that he didn't push anything seeing as she had honestly never been in a relationship before.

Not that there hadn't been opportunities, she just hadn't wanted to end up as some notch in some asshole racer's belt.

Granted no one had known that she was a twenty year old virgin, now a twenty-three year old virgin.

It wasn't difficult for her to admit that she was in fact, very fond of Optimus, she didn't love him yet but she was definitely getting there and his chivalrous attitude and allowing her to take things at her own pace were endearing her even more.

Which is why, this time, Tempest was the one to reach out with a slightly shaky servo to gently brush her claws over Optimus's face.

The look of shock on his face would have been funny had he not immediately tilted his helm further into her servo causing her to smile softly.

It was an intimate gesture yes, but it spoke of a great trust between the pair that did so and with a soft vent, Tempest leaned her helm against Optimus's.

Hearing the quickened pace of Optimus's spark pulse, Tempest couldn't help but smirk as he was undoubtedly nervous but he remained still.

Having shuttered his optics, Optimus merely soaked in the warmth that lit his old spark as Tempest leaned against him, her claws still gently dancing over his face.

All too soon however, Tempest was pulling away and Optimus had to take a moment to collect himself but in that time a knock sounded,

"Enter."

Perceptor peeked his helm into the Primes' office to see them sitting behind the large desk before Tempest looked at him in surprise,

"Am I late?"

"A little bit but it's not such a concern."

"Sorry about that Perceptor. I lost track of time. Excuse me Optimus."

"Of course."

Standing, Tempest followed after Perceptor, missing the longing look that Optimus looked at her with before the door slid shut.

Sighing, Optimus leaned back in his chair, placing a servo over his face, still feeling the delicate brush of Tempest's deadly claws against his face.

Had he been a younger mech he might have interfaced her over their desk, however he hadn't lived for as long as he had to not learn patience.

Groaning softly, Optimus headed to his quarters for a quick, cold wash in the wash racks of his quarters.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

"Speaking"

" _Bumblebee speaking_ "

* * *

Tempest was a natural as a sniper, Perceptor could definitely attest to that, but he had also begun to teach her about other firearms and she was slowly beginning to excel at them.

Seeing as Cyclonus had opted for a night flight to get her used to that as well, she had adjusted her schedule accordingly, not that Perceptor had minded for it gave him an evening free with Drift.

The night flight was something she was eagerly looking forwards to and had managed to get up in the air much easier than she had when she had first begun.

Even flying directly at Tempest's side, Cyclonus had trouble actually seeing her for she blended into the dark sky perfectly and rather than roaring, her engines hummed.

Jazz had definitely had the right idea to have her being trained in Spec Ops whether she was an Infiltrator or not.

With her stealth abilities she would end up being one of the best, granted none of the Wreckers had yet seen her in a combat situation.

Going through a few aerial exercises, Cyclonus eventually released her for the evening after she had perfected them to his liking.

Spotting Bumblebee, Tempest smirked before shifting into her vehicular bipedal mode and rushed forwards, jumping onto his back as he let out an interesting sound of surprise.

Laughing, Tempest gently pat Bumblebee's helm as he hummed and hooked his servos behind her knee joints as she smiled at him,

" _Good job sneaking up on me_."

"Jazz is a very good teacher."

Blurr was definitely fascinated by Tempest's vehicular alt mode and happily zoomed around her as she held still to allow him to check it over.

Timing Blurr's circles around her, Tempest held out her arm and caught him around the torso causing him to grunt and chuckle as she walked over to the energon dispenser.

Needless to say, bets were placed on who was the fastest as for the longest time, Blurr had been the absolute fastest on the ground.

Shifting into her alt mode, Tempest settled beside Blurr at the makeshift starting point before one of the Wreckers yelled for them to go and in a roar of engines, the pair shot forwards.

Blurr could definitely admire Tempest's alt mode as she stayed right on his bumper, even pouring out his max speed.

Tempest's speed was nothing to laugh about and in a shift of her gears, Tempest was keeping pace right along side him, causing his engine to putter in shock, giving Tempest a lead.

Quickly getting his helm back into the race, Blurr struggled to catch up but now, Tempest was really kicking out her stride as her engines roared, her tires gripping the tarmac.

Drifting almost too hard around a corner, Tempest downshifted to compensate as her tires screamed before shifting back up to speed as soon as her tires came back down, having nearly been on two wheels.

Having always taken racing quite seriously, as it had previously been her livelihood, Tempest pushed her engines to their top speed and roared across the finish line a full five seconds before Blurr.

Tapping her brakes, Tempest carefully slowed as whoops and cheers sounded before Tempest shifted back into her bipedal mode and flopped onto her back, her frame nearly glowing with the heat she carried.

"Wowthatwassoamazing! I'veneverhadanyonebeatmeonatrackbefore!"

"Racing used to be how I survived. I won't cheat but I won't go easy on anyone either."

"That'stobeexpected. Butreallyyou'reamazing!"

"Thank you."

Standing, Tempest shifted back into her aerial bipedal mode as it always dealt better with the heat than her vehicular mode.

Cycling cool air through her frame, Tempest cooled a lot quicker as the other bots rushed up to congratulate her and other called in their bets, causing Tempest to chuckle before she shook her helm,

"I'm calling it a night. See you in the morning mechs."

"See ya, Tempest!"

Scrubbing down in the wash racks, Tempest dried off in the dryer room rather than use her own engines and for once used the energon dispenser in her quarters, swallowing down a couple cubes before settling into recharge on her berth.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

"Speaking"

* * *

Optimus chuckled softly, having overheard one of the mechs talk of how Tempest had actually outrun Blurr in a race last night but hadn't really been surprised.

Tempest's entire frames seemed to be built around power and speed, a rare mix that not many had now days but it made her a prime carrier for the Allspark.

Knocking gently on Tempest's quarters, Optimus only had to wait a moment before Tempest's door opened,

"Did I recharge too long?"

"No, I figured that you might, having heard of your race all morning."

Smirking, Tempest nodded before walking out of her room to move up beside Optimus, gently grabbing his servo in hers and heading to their shared office, they would be debriefing Jazz that morning.

Stopping by the mess hall, Tempest greeted the others who were there as she grabbed an energon cube and followed Optimus back to their office.

Seeing as this was her first debriefing, Tempest was only sitting in, learning how a proper debriefing went as she sat further back in the corner.

Jazz may have been a very easy going mech around base, but he was very serious about his job and it showed in the debriefing, anything and everything that had caught his attention was reported.

All the information and intelligence gathered was of course handed over to be analyzed.

"As ah right now, Prime. Dah Cons are all in ah disarray. Megatron's offline. Starscream's fled an' Soundwave is too far away righ' now tah be ah much assistance tah those still on Earth."

"Then we round up those that we can. We'll put them in the brig and keep them there. There are too few of us left to be indiscriminately killing off the few that are left. Even if they are Decepticons."

"Ah had ah feelin' ya'd say tha' Prime."

At that, Tempest perked up,

"I can help with that."

Tempest didn't even flinch at the surprised optics that looked back at her, rather she merely twitched her wings in a equivalent of a shrug,

"Some Decepticons are really good at hiding correct? Nothing can hide from me. Come on Prime. Let me do some field work."

Venting a sigh, Optimus nodded, Tempest had constantly been training ever since she got full control over her frame and honestly she hadn't stopped.

With a search and capture mission, she could put those skills to use and she could indeed track down any Cybertronian on the planet due to the fact that the Allspark rested within her.

"Jazz you will form a team of NEST and Autobot operatives."

"Sure thin' Prime. Come on Tempi, we gotta get ya in on dis as well since ya will be comin' wit'."

Nodding, Tempest stood, following after Jazz after the debriefing was adjourned as the Spec Ops leader held his own meeting.

As Tempest and Blurr were their fastest on the ground, they would be in charge of all the information gathering and Ultra Magnus and Blaster would be going with them.

Seeing as they would be setting out in the evening, Ironhide installed Tempest's weapons properly, giving her a run down on how they worked as she had cannons similar to his own on her wrist joints.

Drift had given her a twin pair of swords that she was able to wear at her hip joints whereas Perceptor gave her a sniper rifle capable of shooting different ammo.

Ratchet gave Tempest a top notch medical kit and a portable energon dispenser that fit in the medical kit, which Tempest was definitely grateful for.

Fueling up, Tempest and her team headed out to the tarmac, they would be following the course that Prowl had set out for them.

They would start in Canada first and work their way down and across the US before heading down to Mexico and then into South America.

Tempest accepted hugs from quite a few of the Autobots and the humans before Optimus pulled her into a tight hug and pressed a kiss to her lips before releasing her,

"Come back safe."

"Of course."

Smiling, Tempest shifted into her vehicular alt mode as the others did the same before heading out, they would be taking shifts and would be switching out in six months.

The only two that would stay in the same team were Tempest and Blaster as she was leader and Blaster was their communications support.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

"Speaking"

{ _Speaking on the Comm link_ }

* * *

It didn't take long for Tempest to call in for a pickup for a couple of Decepticons but in that time Sky Lynx had arrived and would be acting as transport along with Cyclonus.

Eight months had passed and Ultra Magnus and Blurr had been replaced by Bumblebee and Rodimus and rarely did they go more than a month without calling in for another Decepticon pickup.

Tempest didn't bother to call the base without reason and usually it was only to call in for a pickup, even if she did want to be able to talk to the others, she figured it wouldn't do to waste Blaster's strength on idle chit chat.

By the time Drift and Perceptor had been dropped off and Bumblebee and Rodimus picked up, a year had passed and both mechs looked over at a rather tired looking Tempest.

However upon seeing them she smiled warmly and greeted them with a hug as they noted Blaster relaxing with his mini cassettes in the shade of the large trees of the Amazon rainforest.

"We'll rest here for the night if you guys don't mind, we've been on the move for quite some time to make it here."

"Not a problem."

Nodding, Tempest settled on the ground, her helm and shoulders propped up by a boulder as she slipped almost immediately into recharge, causing them to look over at Blaster in concern,

"She's been up for the past three days. We had to get here within the time limit that Prowl set otherwise we would have thrown it all out of whack."

"I see."

The pair settled in though they all took turns taking guard, save for Tempest, they let her recharge for as long as possible and at the first light of dawn they were on the move.

Whirl snorted as he continued to talk to Blaster at their usual check-in,

"You mechs are taking forever there."

"Yeah well I don't see you out here busting your aft trying to find hiding Decepticons."

As Optimus walked into the communications room, Tempest's annoyed voice snapped out,

"Is he talkin' slag?!"

"Hey, all I'm saying is that you guys are taking forever in South America."

At that, Tempest's normally laid-back temper seemed to explode as she her voice practically snarled and roared through the speakers,

"Does he realize how many fragging trees are in South America?! It's the fragging Amazon Rainforest! Trees are every-fragging-where! Coupled with the fact that we have to be careful to leave as little trace as possible because it's endangered already of deforestation! Have you ever been stuck in a mud pit for ten fragging hours while your team mates had to dig you out servo full by servo full?! No?! I didn't fragging think so! Un-fragging-believable! Pit spawned little glitch! Glitching about how long we're fragging taking to find Decepticons!"

As Tempest's rant faded into the background, Optimus vaguely heard Drift and Perceptor trying to soothe her temper as Blaster's voice came onto the comms again,

"Uh, we've had a bit of a rough time and she's right. Going through this forest is no easy task, especially when you're getting caught on the wildlife every two minutes. A lot of this stuff is medicinal too which is why we're having to be so careful."

"You are all doing fine."

"Oh, hey there Prime. Just checking in. Everything's on schedule so far and- oh come on! More rain?!"

Optimus chuckled hearing Tempest's voice snap again,

"It's the Amazon Rainforest! What part of rain do you not get?!"

"Yeah, I'm cutting this short. We'll check in next month. Hey! Tempi! Come on, be a pal."

"You aren't sitting in my cab!"

"Please! Think of my mini cassettes!"

"Fine! You pit-spawn!"

Chuckling again, Optimus shook his helm as the communications ended, he looked over at Whirl who looked slightly dazed at the audio chewing he had received,

"Perhaps it would be wise not to provoke Tempest when she is indeed doing the best she can. This is her first field job."

"She's been at it for…almost two years, it'll be two years in a month and Springer and Kup are going out to replace Drift and Perceptor."

"She's doing just fine, Whirl."

Hearing the swift yet small steps of a human, Optimus turned just as Sam skidded around the corner with Epps and Lennox right behind him.

"Dammit! Did we miss the check in?"

"I'm afraid so, Sam."  
"Dammit!"

All three of the men looked like sparklings who had been caught with a servo in the energon goodie jar, causing Optimus to chuckle again,

"Perhaps next month you can catch her checking in."

"I hope so. It's been almost two years since I've, well we've been able to talk to her."

"She does not often call for idle chatter."

"We could still at least say hi big guy."

"True."

Ushering the three humans out of the room, Optimus followed after them at a more sedate pace to keep from stepping on them or cutting them off.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe tackled Tempest in a hug, having been dropped off at the tip of Africa where they would all work their way up, causing Tempest to chuckle.

Tempest still looked at things with the wonder of a sparkling, but she didn't hold herself like a gentle-bred femme anymore, she held herself like a soldier.

Her gaze was still warm but there was a steel-like quality to it that made them pay attention even when they didn't mean to as she now had a way of moving that automatically drew the optics to her.

She had always moved fluidly but now she was in a different class all together, she moved as if she knew she was the most dangerous thinking walking and honestly, with how she looked now, the Twins believed it.

It was almost scary how much could change in the three years that she had been constantly looking for hidden Decepticons.

Releasing Tempest, the twins greeted Blaster and his mini cassettes, albeit more subdued than they had greeted Tempest, but Blaster and the mini cassettes weren't holding it against them.

In the three years of them constantly working together, Blaster and Tempest had a bit of a routine that they stuck to.

The main one being when their other two partners had been switched out, they would rest that day or night, depending on the time that the others arrived.

While Tempest and Blaster had been gone, work had gone into making a sort of Autobot space base that would allow them to better monitor Decepticon activity and if the humans decided that they wanted the Cybertronians gone permanently, it would offer them sanctuary.

The base could also be reconfigured into a giant ship that could make the very long trip back to Cybertron once it was completed in its construction.

With only Cybertronians working on it, it was coming along quite well but was only a quarter of the way finished.

Sunstreaker of course bitched about the heat and sand, granted they were a bit closer to the ocean so it wasn't too bad when it came to the heat.

However, after spotting Tempest, Sunstreaker surprisingly went quiet at the sight of her scuffed paint.

In some places like her claws and the palms of her servos, the paint had been completely worn away and really, Tempest looked like she had been dragged on asphalt several times over.

Worryingly enough she looked dead tired, even Blaster's usually loud and boisterous attitude was subdued with a low-level exhaustion.

Watching as Tempest set out the portable energon dispenser, the twins helped her to set up a large tarp that stretched over large metal poles to help keep some of the sun off of them, allowing them to stay a bit cooler.

Pulling out her raggedy thermablanket that had seen her through the last three years, Tempest draped it on the ground as Blaster draped his beside her to sit on.

"Tempi, Blaster, you two doing okay?"

"Fine."

"Yup."

"How about you two get some recharge in. We'll take first watch."

"Hey, thanks mechs."

Tempest curled up on her side, her senses still on high alert even as she slid into recharge, vaguely noting when Blaster and his mini cassettes had done the same.

Looking over at Sideswipe, Sunstreaker nudged him,

"Send a call in a for Ratchet."

Rather than argue, Sideswipe nodded, straining his comms a bit but he managed to connect directly to the pissy medic who went quiet at the mention of Tempest and Blaster's lethargy.

{ _Is the energon dispenser still functional?_ }

{ _Yes. It's hotter than the pits here so it's absorbing a lot of sun._ }

{ _I'm on my way. Sounds like they need a good dose of coolants_. _It's been a while since they've had a check up too. I'll bring my kit and First Aid. Tempest is prone to overheating in her vehicular bipedal mode as well as in her alt mode. Make sure to keep an optic on her and don't use the ocean water. It'll rust up her internals._ }

{ _Yes, Ratchet._ }

Six hours later had Ratchet and First Aid walking up, both noting Tempest and Blaster's exhausted greetings.

Shaking his helm, Ratchet had Blaster and his mini cassettes get up on the portable berth before he began to check them over, finding that their coolant indeed was dangerously low.

Once they had been topped off, Ratchet checked all of them over, nodding when he found signs of repairs that had been quite well done.

Even the mini bots had signs of meticulous repairs and it was only Ratchet's practiced optics that he even noticed them.

Motioning them out of the way, Ratchet gently tugged Tempest up onto the berth and topped off her coolant which was almost empty before installing a spare coolant tank.

It wasn't difficult and she was able to stay online as he did the installation, granted he was definitely not happy to see the wire damage that she had suffered and one of her knee joints was so twisted he was surprised she was able to walk.

Repairing the damage, Ratchet was only a little bit surprised when Tempest hugged him, resting her chin on his shoulder as he pat her back,

"Good to see you again, Ratchet."

"You too, sweet spark. You take care of yourself out here, you hear me? You get hurt too bad you give me a call."

"Of course, Ratchet."

Nodding, Ratchet moved back away from Tempest who let him retreat before sliding off of the portable berth and waving to them as they left.

Packing up the small camp they had made, they all drank down an energon cube before Tempest put the energon dispenser back in her medical kit and they began the hunt.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

"Speaking"

" _Bumblebee speaking"_

* * *

With Jazz and Ironhide having joined them over in China, none of them were expecting the firefight that they found themselves in and while ducking for cover, Blaster quickly sent a call for backup.

"Blaster, what's your location?"

"Some back aft alley in China! That's where! We just got here, we haven't had a chance to even- Tempest!"

A spark-stopping scream sounded along with an explosion before Ironhide's roared curses and Jazz's panicked yell sounded.

"Blaster, what's going on?!"

"Prime, we need Ratchet, now! Tempest is hit bad."

"I need those coordinates, Blaster!"

As soon as Optimus had the coordinates, Ratchet was headed out in Sky Lynx, it took longer than he liked, even with Sky Lynx hitting his top speeds, one that no human construction could ever hope to match.

Landing heavily in the streets, Sky Lynx opened the hatch before Ratchet and First Aid shot out, rushing over to Tempest's side where she lay between a battered Ironhide and Jazz.

The Decepticon had been torn to pieces and Ratchet would be taking him back for spare parts as he hurried to repair the blast to Tempest's chassis.

Thankfully none of the metal had melted onto her spark chamber and while the blast could have been life threatening, Tempest would make a full recovery.

"Alright, she's repaired but she's going to have to rest. No overdoing it and no letting her!"

"Ya got it, Ratchet."

"Good, now get over here ya aft-helms."

Ratchet and First Aid both repaired the others before heading back gather the pieces of the Decepticon and then back to Sky Lynx who gave them a ride back to the base.

Ironhide carefully and easily lifted Tempest up into his arms before heading further out into the countryside to avoid being spotted as best they could while Tempest recovered.

Once a safe enough distance, Jazz pulled out his thermablanket, always carrying spares, to allow Ironhide to gently settle Tempest's frame onto it.

Blaster immediately sat beside Tempest's shoulder as his mini cassettes carefully settled on and around Tempest's sides.

Ramhorn settled at Tempest's left shoulder, resting his helm there as his frame remained tucked against her side.

Steeljaw did the same but to Tempest's right shoulder leaving Rewind and Eject to settle at her waist, both throwing a small arm over her.

Jazz settled up near Tempest's helm as Ironhide settled at her pedes, his back to her as he kept an optic on the forest to keep from allowing them to be snuck up on.

As soon as Ratchet and First Aid stepped onto the tarmac, Ratchet was reassuring Optimus that yes, Tempest was repaired and yes should would be fully functional, no he did not need to pull her from her mission and no he did not need to head over to China when he still had to oversee the construction of the Cybertronian space station from base.

They were almost four years into their five year sweep and Tempest would be able to return soon enough and he wasn't the only one that missed Tempest at base.

Tempest groaned as she came online, her frame aching like she'd been shoved into a washer with the spin cycle on.

Hearing various tones calling her designation, Tempest brought her optics online to see the worried faces of her team.

"I'm fine, sore but fine."

Trying to sit up caused pain to rail across Tempest's chassis, however she merely grit her denta, managing to prop herself up on her forearms before Jazz, Ironhide, Blaster, and his mini cassettes gently pushed her onto her back once more.

"Ow!"

"Uh-huh. Exactly. Ya ain't movin' from 'ere 'til ya feel better or we get ah call from Ratchet sayin' ya can."

"Oh come on!"

"I don't think so, Tempest. You took a shot to the chassis. That's dangerous, believe me I know. It happened to me once before as well but my armor is almost four inches thicker than yours in that form. We'll hole up here for a couple days and then get back to hunting."

Rather than complain, Tempest settled back on the thermablanket again, they had been running hard and Tempest, Blaster, and his cassettes had been constantly running for the past three almost four years.

When it came time to switch partners again, Jazz stayed behind again for another shift, sending Ironhide to be replaced by Bumblebee.

Bumblebee let out a shocked sound at the sight of Tempest's completely battered frame, she had been repaired but her paint job had been badly scratched.

The blast where she had been hit in the chassis was nothing but a silver mass of scarred metal, not that it made Tempest look any less fierce.

It was however, the first time that Bumblebee had ever hesitated in hugging Tempest, however upon seeing him, her optics brightened and a smile lit her face as she held open her arms.

Reservations gone, Bumblebee rushed forwards, hugging Tempest tightly, though he made sure not to put too much pressure on her chassis, she didn't seem to act like it hurt.

"Good to see you again, Bee."

" _You too, sweet cheeks._ "

Chuckling softly, Tempest gently pat Bumblebee's helm before he went to greet the others, settling in for the day of rest as Tempest and Blaster were known to do.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

"Speaking"

* * *

Five fragging years had passed and finally, Tempest, Blaster and his cassettes, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe were returning back to the base with Optimus waiting eagerly for their return on the tarmac.

It wasn't long before he was joined by Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, Ironhide, and most of the other bots in the base.

Sam happened to be sitting on Bumblebee's shoulder whereas Robert and Will were sitting on Ironhide's shoulders before they spotted Sky Lynx.

"Woo! There he is!"

Cheers sounded as Sky Lynx carefully landed before the hatch opened and Blaster and his cassettes walked out only to nearly be tackled in hugs from excited mechs.

Even Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were dragged into hugs and surprisingly enough, they didn't lash out at anyone.

Everyone however was waiting for Tempest and their breath caught when they saw her.

Her paint may have been scuffed all to slag and she may have looked tired but now instead of carrying herself like she didn't know what to do with herself, she carried herself like a Prime, a Warrior, and a damn good leader.

Walking down the ramp, Tempest was immediately dragged into excited hugs and she warmly greeted everyone before she finally spotted Optimus.

Walking forwards, Tempest moved with a purpose that had everyone unconsciously scrambling out of her way and even Optimus stiffened slightly as if to prepare for battle.

However, Tempest merely shifted into her aerial bipedal mode which honestly looked worse than her vehicular mode did before throwing her arms around Optimus's shoulders.

Tempest's claws dug deep into Optimus's armor but he didn't complain as they both clutched at each other,

"I missed you so much, big guy."

"I missed you too, Tempest."

Eventually Ratchet had to break the pair apart and urge Tempest to the med bay where he was quick to repair worn down components and do more wirework before sending her off to get a couple cubes of energon.

Once she had downed the cubes, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had dragged her to their quarters to finally touch up her paint.

The twins sanded down every last bit of paint left on Tempest's frame until she was in nothing but the matte grey that all Cybertronians had beneath their paint.

Carefully buffing her frame, the twins began to apply the paint to her frame, it had taken them quite some time to find paint that would do what hers had originally done and match the colors precisely.

But they had found it and had bought quite a bit before getting to work.

The twins worked in increments, with her standing inside the specialized dryer so that she wouldn't have to move and smear the paint.

This time however, along with the changing dark paint, they added metallic gold accents, making her frame really pop to the optic.

Painting a dark blue around her optics in an almost Egyptian style caused the deep gold of her optics to really pop as well. Them painting crimson over her lips had surprised her but she didn't complain before they closed her in the dryer once more and warm air began to circulate.

Once the paint was completely dry, Sunstreaker gave her a full frame wax before sending her on her way, though she made sure to thank them both warmly.

Having been following after Ultra Magnus, Rodimus couldn't help but yelp as he walked into him before stepping around him to look up at him,

"Hey what's the big idea?"

Noting Ultra Magnus's completely dazed expression, Rodimus looked forwards only to have his optics go wide and his jaw to drop at the sight of Tempest's new paint job because holy frag she was hot!

Neither Rodimus nor Ultra Magnus could find it in themselves to move until Tempest had disappeared around the corner before they gave themselves a quick shake and headed back down the hall.

Optimus had been admittedly floored upon seeing Tempest for the first time in five years, honestly it was as if she had left as a sparkling and came back as a leader that even caused him to pause.

While she hadn't said anything about their courted relationship, he was honestly beginning to doubt that she would want to continue.

He could always be wrong of course and he really hoped that he was but only time would tell.

Hearing a knock on the office door, Optimus called for them to enter and the door slid to the side.

Smirking at the sight of Optimus pouring over data pads, Tempest walked forwards, wrapping her arms around his shoulders once more causing him to stiffen before relaxing.

Hooking his arm around Tempest's waist, Optimus pulled Tempest further against his side before releasing her.

Turning towards Tempest, Optimus's optics went wide at the sight of her new paint job before she chuckled, looking down at the new paint,

"The twins got a hold of me almost as soon as I got an energon cube in me. What do you think?"

"Beautiful."

Clearing his vocalizer as he looked away, Optimus missed Tempest's gentle smile before she sat down in the chair next to him,

"So, what're we doing big guy?"

For once, rather than not doing what he wanted, Optimus hooked his arm around Tempest's waist again, pulling her fully into his lap as her engines revved in surprise.

Though she didn't fuss as he settled her in his lap, wrapping his arms comfortably around her waist as his face pressed against her shoulder.

Chuckling even as she relaxed, Tempest reached forwards and grabbed the data pad before she began to go over all the paperwork that had piled up on Optimus's desk as he merely held onto her.

Eventually however Tempest managed to urge Optimus to go and get some recharge before she headed to the med bay.

Seeing Tempest walk in, Ratchet immediately scanned her over but found nothing wrong as she vented a sigh,

"Ratchet, I have questions and they're going to embarrass the slag out of both of us but I need to know."

"Primus help me. Alright, come on. My office is this way."

Following after Ratchet, Tempest sat in the offered chair before he sat down behind the desk as well as she fidgeted,

"What is it you wanted to ask me?"

"How…do Cybertronians interface?"

"Wha?"

"I know how humans do, even if I was never intimate with anyone but I'm lost when it comes to Cybertronians and on a completely different note I was wondering if you could teach me actual Cybertronian."

"I can do both. I'll gather up some data pads on interfacing that way you know the literal mechanics of it. I can data blast you all the Cybertronian dialects I know after your shift in the med bay. It will be a very large amount."

"That's fine. I can learn it all from the Allspark itself with no problem but I'd rather have someone who has personally spoken all the languages rather than just shove facts at me."

"I can do that, sweet spark. Even if it would still be me just giving you facts."

"You add your own brand of information and experiences to it to help me relate to it better Ratchet. Which is why I came to you rather than rely on the Allspark."  
"You don't rely on it for much at all do you?"

"No but it is content in its…trial period so to speak. Things will really start getting interesting sooner or later."

"Primus help us."

At that, a mysterious smile curled Tempest's lips but she stood, thanking Ratchet warmly before she headed off to her quarters to get some recharge in.

Surprise caused Tempest's engines to rumble softly at the entry log on her door, surprisingly enough, quite a few mechs had used her room.

All of her teammates had save for Jazz because he stayed with Prowl but Optimus was the one who had rested in her room almost every day since she had been gone.

Shaking her helm, Tempest opened the door only to have her optics go wide in surprise, now instead of looking like an empty room, it looked like a home.

Smiling, Tempest walked inside, seeing all the touches that her friends had added to make her room feel more like a home.

There was even beautiful artwork that Tempest had never seen before hung up on the walls and a very expensive looking speaker system had been set up throughout the room.

Even if Jazz hadn't rested in her quarters, he had added his own personal touches and from the large monitor sitting on her new desk, she figured Prowl had too.

Walking into her wash racks, Tempest laughed for it appeared that the twins had gotten hold of her wash racks and had them completely redone to resemble a more professional wash racks.

There were even rags and large containers of wax with Sunstreaker leaving a note informing her that the waxes somehow managed to remind them of her.

Opening the can of wax, Tempest took a tentative sniff, ready for the chemicals to take precedence, however a warm floral smell floated over her olfactory sensors causing her to smile before she placed the lid on the tin and set it back down.

The warmth that was now infused in her quarters made Tempest smile, even as her wings relaxed from their alert position.

Washing off in the new wash racks, Tempest was pleased to find that the water pressure was amazing and felt very relaxing against her armor and the soap carried the same almost floral scent as the wax did.

Rinsing the thick, luxurious suds off, Tempest stepped into the dryer room and was quickly dried in half the normal time, allowing her to settle on her plus berth and pull the thick thermablanket over her chassis.

Smiling in complete content, Tempest slid into recharge with a soft vent, her processors for once shutting down as the thought of safety and home registered.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

"Speaking"

" _Speaking Cybertronian_ "

* * *

When Tempest's morning alarm went off, she admittedly did not want to get up, however she did, carefully climbing out of the berth before fixing the thermablanket over it, much like making a bed.

Heading to the mess hall, Tempest was joined by Optimus who slid his servo into her own, causing her to smile over at him before Blaster and his Cassettes joined them.

With Blaster and his Cassettes having constantly worked with Tempest for the five years they were out hunting Decepticons, they had formed a lifelong friendship and were quite protective of each other.

Grabbing her energon cube, Tempest settled down on a booth before she began to sip her cube,

"Ah, I might be a little bit late coming in to help with the paperwork, Optimus. I told Ratchet I needed to ask him a few things after my usual shift."

"Are you well?"

"I'm fine. Just had some questions for him is all."

"It is not a problem. I believe you have been spoiling me with your assistance with the paperwork. I had forgotten how large a workload it was until you had left."

Laughing softly, Tempest finished her cube before she stood, gently patting Optimus on the shoulder,

"Sorry about that. Now, if you'll excuse me mechs. I've got a shift in the med bay."

Excusing herself, Tempest headed to the med bay, greeting Ratchet and First Aid warmly before she got to work.

"So, what exactly is your relationship with Tempest?"

"While I do not believe that is any of your business, we are courting."

"Courting huh? Fancy."

"Blaster-"

"Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Granted."

"You hurt her and I'll tear your spark out myself."

"Duly noted."

"Good. Now, excuse me sir. Enjoy your day."

Optimus had known that Tempest would be able to make friends out of even the most taciturn of mechs and it was pleasing to find that they were every bit of protective of her as he was.

Standing, Optimus placed his empty cube in the recycle bin before heading to his office to get started on the day's paperwork. Seeing as Tempest had helped him to catch up the night before, it hopefully wouldn't be so bad.

Eventually he would have to debrief her, however he would give her a couple more days off as she had captured many of the surviving Decepticons who remained in the brig.

None of them were happy of course but they had been repaired enough that nothing hurt and they were given energon every day.

The soldiers that they had taken out of the field would hopefully help to even out the odds a bit when Starscream returned with more Decepticon soldiers.

Because it was a when not an if, Starscream was an old hand at retreating and then finding more soldiers to come back in with guns blazing.

Many a time they had been caught off-guard for underestimating Starscream and Optimus was not about to make the same mistake more than he absolutely had to.

He did his best to learn from his mistakes so that they wouldn't be repeated and while he may have been a Prime, he was still just a mech and slag happened everyday when one was on a battlefield.

Case in point, had Prowl not shown up at the absolute last second, Megatron would have ripped Jazz in two, as it was, the old spark mates had fought together like a well-oiled machine, smashing Megatron back long enough for Optimus to get Sam.

Sighing softly at the pile of data pads, Optimus figured it had been a passing hope that there wouldn't be as many.

However, despite the number, Optimus sat down and got to work, reading over the data pads, filing reports, accepting requests, denying requests, checking inventory logs, etc.

Sitting in Ratchet's office, having finished her shift, Tempest held out her wrist joint to allow Ratchet to attach his data line and blast her the huge file of all the languages he knew along with proper pronunciations and what not.

Shaking his helm at Tempest's slightly dazed expression, Ratchet detached his data line before scanning Tempest over, finding her processors already tearing through the massive information and filing it at speed.

Seriously, the femme could be as terrifying as Prowl when it came to such large influxes of information and within minutes her optics brightened once more.

"You weren't kidding. That's a lot of languages and dialects."

"I told you. Now for the interfacing information."

"Right."

Tempest made sure to pay attention as Ratchet began to explain everything without a shred of embarrassment.

It was something that he had had to explain countless of times before to young mechs and femmes coming into their adult frame.

Tempest was really no different, save for the fact that she had went straight into her adult frame.

"If you think of interfacing, I'll have to do a full check up on you."

"Would I be able to do it now just to get it out of the way?"

"If that's what you want. It'll also help me to figure out if you could fry your partner."

"Fry…my partner?"

"Some mechs or femmes run a little faster so they generate a bit more energy. In an overload you could accidentally injure your partner if they're not properly insulated."

"Ooh. Do you think the Allspark will get in the way?"

"Slag! I hadn't even…you know what, can you open your chassis for me?"

"Sure."

Ratchet watched the heavily modified locks on Tempest's chassis unlatch before her chassis cycled back and Ratchet was left staring in utter awe at the liquid silver that fluttered around Tempest's spark as glyphs sparked on the silver every once in a while.

"It's…beautiful."

"Thanks?"

Studying the Allspark that flowed like liquid now, Ratchet hummed softly but didn't dare to touch it,

"Can it be moved back?"

For a moment, a confused expression twisted Tempest's face before Ratchet watched as the liquid silver parted, revealing Tempest's spark that was the color of an iridescent pearl.

Never, in all the long years of being a medic had Ratchet honestly seen a more beautiful spark and it was incredibly humbling to be able to witness the one he looked at now.

"I'm going to do a quick test to check the output of your spark alright? It won't hurt at all. You'll just feel a touch of pressure."

"Okay."

Grabbing the specialized tool, Ratchet also pulled on the thoroughly insulated gloves to keep an accidental bond from being made before carefully pressing the tool very gently to Tempest's spark.

The reading was off the charts, showing that her Prime ability had something to do with electricity, despite the fact that she had never used it.

"Alright, sweet spark, you can close up."

Ratchet watched as the Allspark flowed around Tempest's spark again, hiding the beauty of it behind its equally beautiful protection before Tempest's chassis closed once more and locked.

"You have some kind of electrical ability. If you are intimate with Optimus I'll have to doubly insulate all of his wires. His spark is an entirely different matter as his is bigger than yours so he'll be able to handle the influx of your spark well enough."

"I knew I had an electrical ability but I haven't had the need to use it."

"Let me see at least that way I can get a judge for what materials to use in the insulation."

Holding up her servo, golden lightning crackled loudly around it but seemed to be contained by Tempest for it didn't bounce or lash out anywhere, just coiled around her servo and arm.

"Right. I'll have to get Wheeljack on it. If you overload without a spark merge, you'll give off double that energy and that could badly injure Optimus if I don't have him insulated correctly."

"Okay."

"I've dealt with others that have had a lightning ability though they are extremely rare. They can still be intimate with their chosen partner as long as they are careful."

"Thanks Ratchet. You really helped a lot."

"It's my job."

"Well I still appreciate you taking the time to explain it all."

At that, Ratchet smiled warmly at Tempest, she always made sure to thank him, no matter what he did really.

Gently patting Tempest's helm, being careful of her sensor horns, Ratchet chuckled softly,

"You're most welcome. Now, out with you. Prime has a double if not triple workload now that you're back and he's going to need all the help he can get."

"Sure thing Ratchet. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

Standing, Tempest headed out of the med bay, accepting a hug from the older twins as they randomly walked by before continuing on her way to Optimus's office.

Knocking politely, Tempest entered after Optimus had given her permission before she sat down at his side and began to pour over the data pads.

"Optimus?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think I could practice something with you?"

"Of course."

" _Am I saying this correctly?_ "

Optimus's optics shuttered rapidly in a blink, hearing perfect Iaconian Cybertronian chirp gently from Tempest's mouth and throat.

It had been a long time since Optimus had actually heard Cybertronian as everyone had taken to learning English to make it more easy for the humans to understand them.

However, he happily responded as the Iaconian Cybertronian rumbled from his throat and chest,

" _Yes. Your accent is perfect. Is this what you questioned Ratchet about?_ "

Tempest's face lit in a smile as she actually understood what Optimus was saying and she had to admit that the Cybertronian rumbling from him was even more spine tingling than his rich baritone when he spoke English.

" _Part of it, yes. Do you think I could practice this with you?_ "

" _Of course._ "

After that, any questions Tempest had were spoken in Cybertronian and Optimus definitely enjoyed hearing it once more.

" _Hey Jazz_."

Hearing perfectly Polyhexian Kaonite rumble from Tempest, honestly shocked Jazz so much he tripped over his own pedes and would have fallen had not Tempest and Prowl caught him,

"Wha' dah slag?!"

" _Did ah not say it right? Ah'm ah lil' confused on dah accent._ "

Knowing that Prowl also knew Polyhexian Kaonite, Jazz shook his helm, shifting back into his original language.

" _Nah, ya said it just fine. Where'd ya learn it?_ "

" _Ratchet. Ah told 'im ah wanted tah learn Cybertronian an' all dah dialects so 'e data blasted meh dah information_."

Nodding, Jazz allowed Prowl and Tempest to pull him to his pedes before Prowl looked over at Tempest,

" _Yer accent is ah little thick. But it's not bad._ "

" _Hey! Cool, ya know Polyhexian Kaonite too!_ "

" _Ah do. Jazz is muh spark mate. Ah learned from 'im._ "

Needless to say, thanks to Blaster, word quickly got around that Tempest was only speaking in Cybertronian in practice, causing all of the bots to revert back to their natural languages, leaving the humans completely confused.

Not that they minded of course seeing as Bee could only speak in basic Cybertronian and some of the NEST members had been partnered up to the mechs so long that even if they spoke in Cybertronian they still had a distinct understanding.

The higher ups of course weren't pleased but as long as they spoke in English around them they couldn't really say anything in protest.

Seeing as there were quite a few times that she did slip back into English seeing as it was her own language.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Thanks for the Reviews, faves, and follows everybody. I really appreciate it.

WolfieLE: I'm glad you're liking the story so much. Tempest is kind to all the bots simply because she thinks of them all as her family and really just flat out loves them all.

NovaShifter15: Thank you for saying my writing is interesting. I'll do my best to continue writing lol. I have noticed that the fandom is...slowing to say the least.

* * *

Chapter 26:

"Speaking"

* * *

Once Optimus got around to actually debriefing all of Tempest's teams as well as Tempest and Blaster themselves, it took quite some time.

The whole day was spent in debriefing with the first time and Tempest and Blaster were going in chronological order so when it reached the end of the first team, they stopped for the day.

Everyone was thankful that the debriefing was over and Blaster was quite proud that Tempest had told nothing but the absolute truth, even if it looked badly upon her.

As it was her first time out in the field and leading a team, she had admittedly made quite a few mistakes but had always been willing to listen to the advice the others had offered and did her best to follow it.

Hearing of the debriefing, Jazz had music playing in the rec room and Tempest had happily pulled a very stiff Ultra Magnus into a dance.

"I am unsure of this, Tempest."

"It's fine. Just watch my pedes and listen to the music."

Moving slowly, Tempest let Ultra Magnus study how she moved her pedes before he tentatively began to follow it,

"There you go. Now just match it to the music."

Rodimus watched in shock as Tempest managed to actually get Ultra Magnus to dance and with him being such a large mech, he had quite a good rhythm and was rather graceful.

Smirking at Rodimus's dazed expression, Jazz snuck up behind him, pushing hard causing him to stumble out onto the dance floor before Tempest pulled him up and shoved him into Ultra Magnus.

"Follow Magnus's steps and you'll do fine."

Nodding, Rodimus focused on the steps and soon they were dancing just as well as Magnus and Tempest had been.

Laughing, Tempest walked off the dance floor, spotting Optimus in a corner and went to sit with him, nodding in thanks when he offered her a cube of energon.

"I am glad to see Ultra Magnus relaxing for once."

"Ah, he's a good mech. A little stiff but still a good mech."

Spotting Optimus rest his servo on the table, palm up, Tempest smiled and placed her servo in his, always careful with her claws.

Especially seeing as she had put them in action and had torn through armor on mechs, inches thick.

"I haven't thanked you all yet for the decorations done to my quarters."

"Ah, I had hoped you wouldn't be mad."

"No, it looks great. I'm glad of it. It looks like an actual home now."

Eventually everyone headed to their own quarters for the night though Tempest was very surprised when Optimus stumbled to her quarters in the middle of the night.

Rather than protest, Tempest opened her arms as Optimus tumbled onto her berth, wrapping his arms tight around her chassis as his legs tangled with hers.

Reaching back, Tempest pulled the thermablanket up from her back, as she had been in recharge when Optimus had opened the door and seeing his dazed expression she had pushed it back, guessing that Optimus would lay on her berth with her.

Tucking the thermablanket behind Optimus, Tempest folded her wings against her back to be more comfortable resting on her side without her wing digging painfully into the berth.

Pressing a kiss to Optimus's helm, Tempest settled back on her berth, it was odd how quickly she slid back into recharge but she didn't protest as she was dragged under.

Waking warm, extremely comfortable, and with a spark pulse thrumming gently in his audio had Optimus bringing his optics online in confusion to find himself tangled with Tempest.

Stiffening in shock, Optimus was once more surprised when Tempest's arm tightened over his shoulder as she partially leaned over him, her wing lashing out protectively as she came online in an instant, scanning the room.

Sensing no one in the room, Tempest relaxed, looking down at Optimus as she partially rolled back onto her side, tucking her wing against her back once more.

"Did you recharge well?"

"When…did I get here?"

"Three hours after we parted ways to go to our separate quarters."

"My apologies, I hadn't realized-"

"Optimus, it's fine. I don't know about you but humans are often able to sleep in a purely platonic or familial setting."

Shifting slightly, Optimus was admittedly quite embarrassed finding that his spike had pressurized as he had recharged and was pressing firmly along the curve of Tempest's hip joint.

However she smirked at him and dropped her optics only to his chin before cocking her helm to the side,

"Although, I will admit, I am surprised that Cybertronians can get what humans call "morning wood" and no, there's absolutely no need to apologize for it either."

Optimus was quick to seal his spike behind his interface panel once more before he carefully sat up, a bit uncomfortable now seeing as his spike was fully pressurized.

He didn't fuss however as Tempest tugged him towards her wash racks, both washing up quickly and drying off before heading to the mess hall.

Drinking their energon, Optimus was curious as to why Ratchet had called him to his med bay but went without complaint.

It was never a good idea to argue with Ratchet, not even on a good day.

Settling on the berth, per Ratchet's instructions, Optimus only had but a moment to look over at Tempest before he was sent into medical stasis.

"Tempest, you can help me with the wire work. Wheeljack actually had doubly insulated wires made up."

"Sure thing, Ratchet."

Most of the wires that were replaced were around Optimus's chassis, torso, and helm to keep Tempest from accidentally causing too much damage to such vital wires.

Admittedly the work was tedious but definitely a necessity and Tempest would be assisting Optimus with more paperwork after he was allowed to come back online.

Motioning Tempest over to his side, Ratchet had her replace the wires closest to his spark, watching as she moved with absolute precision, the tips of her claws making it even easier for her.

"Ah, that one there isn't connected well enough."

"Where?"

Focusing her attention back on the wires she had placed, Ratchet pointed out the rather loose wire, drawing Tempest's attention to it,

"Ah, got it Ratchet. Thank you."

Nodding, Ratchet finished up the wirework on Optimus's neck and helm just as Tempest finished the rest of the wirework on his chassis.

Checking over the work, Ratchet nodded finding all of it quite well done before bringing Optimus back online.

Running through his internal scans, Optimus found that quite a few of his wires had been replaced and heavily insulated.

But he had never questioned Ratchet before and didn't plan on doing so now as he sat up before Tempest helped him off the berth, even if he didn't need it.

Waving to Ratchet, Optimus headed back to their office with Tempest following behind him before they both began to tackle the very large piles of data pads.


End file.
